Animus Sunny AU

Content Warning

This page contains profanity, violence, mild gore, or other forms of content that you may find upsetting.

This is just a random thing, I'm probably gonna change the title later. The story's what it says in the title - basically the first WoF book (The Dragonet Prophecy) but if Sunny was an animus. Enjoy what I've written so far!

Part 1

Chapter 1

Sunny woke to the sound of distant dragons fighting.

At first she was concerned that it was two of her friends fighting one another, but then she heard Kestrel’s familiar roar echo through the stone corridors, and concluded that it was a training session. What even was the time? 8thHer ears pricked up and she listened out for Kestrel's opponent, and it sounded like it was Clay this time. If it had been Tsunami, there would be more shouting from both dragons, and if it had been Starflight or Glory, then Kestrel would be shouting a lot more.

And it certainly couldn’t be her, as she’d been asleep up until now. She shook out her golden wings, and her ears pricked up at Kestrel's outraged roar. The pounding of talons and fire on rock ceased. The fight's been ended. But by who?

She took careful tiptaloning steps towards the training cave, and peered in. Kestrel was glaring at Tsunami, who had a fire-red scale at her feet. Clay was panting, his cinnamon-brown chest heaving from every deep breath he took. He was just about standing. She was glad she hadn't been involved in any sort of training fight like that today, as Kestrel was in a bad mood again. She usually was, but that didn't make it any less terrifying every time. She never had a good mood, it was more of a less-angry-and-likely-to-bite-anyone mood.

"Stop picking on Clay. Or I'll bite you again," Tsunami growled, raising her sapphire head defiantly. The SeaWing's frill flopped over one of her eyes and she brushed it away with a claw. Kestrel's furious expression did nothing to sway her confident composure. Sunny wished she could be that sure of herself to stand up to the guardians. Sunny flinched back, knowing what would happen. This was a bad time to eavesdrop. Kestrel would leave the cave in a rage and if she was caught, she would have things to answer for. She looked behind her, then back to the battle cave.

She took off at a (reasonably) quiet tiptalon-run down the corridor and back to their sleeping cave. Starflight was there, and she nearly jumped out of her scales. He looked up from his scroll, and frowned. She shrugged and he went back to reading.

He sighed suddenly, and a little puff of fire escaped his nostrils. "It's so boring."

"What?" Sunny asked, confused.

"There's never anything new to read!" he said, sounding exasperated. "Nothing! When will Webs bring in another scroll that the other guardians don't burn for being 'unacceptable'? I'm just..." he worried at the rock ledge he was lying on. "I'm sick of it, Sunny. I know I shouldn't say this because it's still another two years away, but I'd rather be out in the world right now."

Sunny leapt up onto the ledge next to him and sat down. She grinned reassuringly, "Well we've been in here for longer than that. The guardians know what they're doing. We'll be out there faster than you can blink, trust me. Do you want to read your favorite scroll again? Read me a story or two about the brilliance of NightWings again." she said 'brilliance' slightly sarcastically, but wasn't sure if that came across. It was Starflight's favourite scroll, so she was almost glad when he nodded reluctantly. She wasn't sure if any tribe could be that brilliant, like Starflight said the NightWings were.

His face fell and he sighed another flicker of smoke. "That's what I've been reading." He pushed the scroll away from him tiredly, and now she could see its title: Tales of the NightWings.

"What other scrolls are there?" she said, trying to be cheerful. She stood up on her hind legs, and pulled a random one out of the scroll rack that, admittedly, balanced rather precariously on the uneven rocky surface of the platform. "The Animus Histories. That sounds interesting, doesn't it?" she opened it, wincing slightly at the faded ink and torn-out chapters. "I've always wondered what it's like to have animus magic!"

He sighed heavily. "I've read it too many times. I could recite it backwards. Like all of these." He waved a talon at the shelf she took the scroll from, and then at the one on the opposite wall.

She frowned, suddenly becoming aware of hearing Tsunami and Clay bolt past the entrance. Tsunami called what sounded like "Dinner's ready!" as she ran past, but it was distorted by the clattering of talons and general muffled tone she always seemed to develop whenever she said something while running.

"We'll go see what that's about," Sunny shrugged and leapt off the platform, onto the floor. she landed slightly awkwardly, but managed to regain her balance. She was still a little groggy after her nap, after all. Starflight nodded hesitantly, and followed after. There was a yelp, and suddenly he tripped. He landed on his face, slightly sprawled.

"GLORY." he huffed, pushing himself back up. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to listen to your conversation complaining about scrolls," Glory said, materializing slowly into an amused pinkish shade of her usual scales. "Which is honestly something I thought you'd never do. Anyways, I wonder what we have for dinner today..."

"Maybe cow again," Sunny said making a slightly disgusted face, much to the amusement of the other two dragonets.

Chapter 2

As Dune dropped the cows onto the floor for the dragonets to take what they wanted, Sunny couldn't help feeling that something was up. The atmosphere didn't feel right. Everyone was too serious.

She thought for a while, picking up a beige lizard and chewing on it thoughtfully. Then, she had an idea. Everyone here thought she was the innocent sweet younger sister (something she really hated, sometimes the other dragonets - especially Tsunami - would treat her like a baby and explain things to her as if she was stupid). She could maybe use that to her advantage. Why not take this opportunity to perfect her hunting cry?

Clay looked especially serious, so why not try to cheer him up?

She watched him finish his cow, and then sweep the bones into the underground river. They vanished with a ploosh and a burst of bubbles. "AHA!" she cried, as loud as possible. Whoops, that wasn't the noise I was planning for. Ah well!

His reaction was quick and unexpected. He yelped and threw his wings over his head, and she smothered a laugh. "What did I do? I'm sorry!" he cried. "It was an accident! If it's about that extra cow, Dune said-"

"Calm down, silly," she laughed, wrinkling her snout. "I wasn't aha-ing at you."

"Oh," he said, looking slightly embarrassed. He spun around, smiling, as she finished her lizard.

"That was my fierce hunting cry! Was it scary?" She grinned up at him.

He smiled, and patted her on the head. "Well it was certainly surprising." Usually she would hate this, but she felt anything she got was deserved because of what she just did. She supposed she didn't mind being 'sweet'. It was more if everyone else treated her like she was a baby. Which did happen a lot, so in hindsight she maybe shouldn't have said that. Clay tipped his head, as she went to get another lizard. "Lizards again? What's wrong with cows?"

She pulled a face, "Blech. Too heavy." She looked around at the empty cave where the other dragonets had been a few minutes ago. They'd left when she wasn't paying attention, while she was talking to Clay. She met his gaze again. "You look all serious."

He shrugged simply, "Just thinking." Lifting one of his wings, he let her nestle in by his side. She liked this, this solid siblingship. It made her feel like maybe the world wasn't so big, the guardians weren't so harsh after all. She remembered the many times that Kestrel had shouted at her, or one of the others. She remembered the many times she'd cried, and hidden away, until Clay found her and comforted her.

That reminded her - they had to study. "Dune says we should go study for an hour before bed. The others are probably in the study cave," she said.

He looked so thoughtful, and she wondered again what was nagging on his mind so much. His eyes sort of wandered over her, and fixated on her barb-less tail for a few heartbeats, before drifting down the corridor that lead to the study cave. His brow furrowed and he looked sad. Her breath caught in her throat, and she decided to break the trance he seemed to be in. "Come on." she said, flicking his side with her tail. My barb-less tail. she thought sadly. It always made her feel a sort of sadness, but then she also felt that she wouldn't be Sunny with a tail barb. She stood up to lead the way out, and he got to his feet as well.

Time for some boring study on stuff we've already learned. It's probably going to be the War of SandWing Succession or something again.

She sighed quietly to herself as they entered the cave.

Chapter 3

It wasn't quite as boring as she thought it would be. Instead of proper studying, they acted out the beginning of the war. She got to be Queen Oasis, because she was an actual SandWing, missing tail barb or no. Although, when they neared the end of their roleplay, Kestrel stormed in.

Sunny suddenly felt regret and fear envelop her as Kestrel burst into the cave, roaring: "WHAT is going on here?"

She shrank back, trying to get out of her furious glare. The SkyWing continued, snorting fire, "This doesn't look like studying." Sunny felt she had to say something to protect her friends, but her lips were trembling and she couldn't think of much to say. "We're s-s-s-sorry..." she stammered, and then she wanted to kick herself. That wasn't good enough, was it? She saw Tsunami stand up and shoot a glare at her. "No, we're not. We were studying. We were acting out the death of the queen that started the whole war."

Sunny covered her ears with her wings, and curled up. She didn't like this, not one bit. Kestrel was going to shout and get really mad, like she always did. After some time, she uncovered her ears a little, so she could hear what they were saying. She almost wished she hadn't, but then she heard Clay speak up. "That's not fair. We were all doing the same thing. We should all be punished."

At his words, Sunny nodded. In the corner of her eye, she saw Glory scowl slightly and shake her head, but Sunny agreed with Clay. They were equally guilty - no wait - they weren't even guilty of anything. They didn't do anything wrong. They were just studying, like Dune told them to. She wanted to stand up to Kestrel really badly, but she didn't have the courage. She hated being watched, being defiant. It made her feel uncomfortable. It was better if she let others do the speaking. Besides, when she did try to contribute opinions, she was often talked over and ignored. It didn't stop her from trying, but it always happened anyway.

Kestrel gave Clay such a withering glare that Sunny shivered. "I know who the ringleader was. Cut off the head, and the problem goes away."

Panic raced through her. They couldn't kill Tsunami! She was part of the prophecy! "You're going to cut off her head?" Sunny squeaked, her anxiety showing more than she would have liked.

Glory rolled her eyes, sighing, "It's a metaphor, featherbrain."

Sunny felt a stab of indignation. But then again, this was Glory. She wasn't afraid to be sassy. It still made her feel irritated. How was she supposed to know? It wasn't beyond Kestrel to do something like that.

"Now go to bed." Kestrel said with finality. Her tail knocked over a shelf of Starflight's scrolls. She didn't even look back as they all rattled to the floor. Sunny watched Starflight's expression sink to despair at his precious scrolls scattered on the floor, as Clay said "Sorry. We tried."

Tsunami responded simply with, "I know, thanks."

Sunny began to pick them up and as she did, Tsunami called over to her "Hey, Sunny, would you mind taking those scrolls back to our sleeping cave?"

Sunny perked up. "Sure, I can do that!" She grabbed the rest, and then carried them off towards the sleeping cave. Luckily, there weren't too many.

As she left, she heard Tsunami start to speak again. She assumed it wasn't directed at her, and kept going - making sure not to drop anything. When she reached the cave, she placed them all down on the floor. "Whew." she said to herself. She felt out of breath. They were relatively light scrolls, but she figured that it hurt her back carrying them all at once. She should have made multiple trips.

Well, hindsight's wonderful. Now, where to put these...

She scoured the scroll racks for any empty slots, spotting a few in different racks. She didn't have to put them all in the same place anyway - after all, didn't Starflight want them ordered alphabetically? For some reason she didn't quite want to put the effort in to order them, but this was Starflight. If it was Tsunami or Glory maybe she'd feel less inclined to... No. She shoved that thought away and began to counting the gaps in one of the racks. There were enough - so quickly sifting through the titles, she grabbed the scrolls that matched and placed them up in their individual slots. She tidied them away quite quickly, apart from the last one which refused to go into its slot - possibly due to her hastiness. She made several attempts to push the other scrolls aside so she could wedge it in, but she didn't have enough talons. After multiple attempts and nearly tearing the paper, she felt frustration mounting.

She growled under her breath as she tried again, "You've always fitted on the rack before! Why in Pyrrhia aren't you fitting now? Get in the slot!"

Suddenly, the scroll tugged itself away from her talons. She fell back, startled, wings flung out in a feeble attempt to maintain her balance. They caught on another scroll rack, and it tipped over, spilling all of its contents on the floor. But she didn't have time to feel exasperated - as she landed on her back on the floor, she saw the scroll neatly arrange itself into the gap and tuck in. Her jaw dropped. Had she imagined that?

Her eyes fell on the fallen-over rack. What was she going to tell Kestrel? The frame looked broken from the impact.

As she scrambled to her feet, she approached the self-arranging scroll. She examined it, and sure enough it was tucked in, any neater than she could ever hope to achieve as evidenced by the other scrolls she'd previously placed in.

"I did that?" she whispered in complete disbelief.

Chapter 4

Her mind whirled with adrenaline, terror and excitement. She stared down at her talons.

The first coherent thought that appeared in her mind was How do I tell the others? Should I tell them? Immediately, she shook her head. They would never believe me. I'm their stupid little sister, with nothing special about herself apart from her positivity and naïvety and golden scales.

The disbelieving side of her wanted to see if it had just been her imagination. She picked up a scroll off the rack, and studied it. It wasn't the same one as the first one she'd spoken to before, this one was written by some SkyWing scholar from a hundred years ago. She turned it over to see the title: "History of the SkyWings". She could only remember one time she'd ever had to read it, and that was when Dune (or was it Webs?) taught them tribe history. It was only for one or two lessons, and it was very forgettable. She rolled it out to its fullest extent on the floor, exposing the scrawling black ink that covered the page in letters and pictures.

Her breath caught in her throat as her heart beat, threatening to burst out of her chest. She took a deep, calming breath, and said, "Roll yourself up and go back to the slot in the scroll rack I got you from."

The piece of parchment burst into action, rolling itself up swiftly. It floated up, past the tip of her snout, and sliding neatly into the scroll rack.

So it is true... She thought dizzily, still not quite believing it. I'm really an animus. She felt a sense of monumental responsibility settle on her shoulders. All of the warnings and dangers she'd learned from Starflight's animus magic scrolls rang out in her head - well most of them. She didn't remember much, because most of the texts on animus magic were dry and dull. Admittedly, she'd skipped over the boring parts - what she really wanted to read about was the talismans they created, or the brilliant gifts they gave others. Although... the loss of a soul was a huge problem. Since she couldn't remember much, she figured she might do some research to see if she could find out the limitations of this power - as all she really knew was that you could do what you wanted, apart from bring dragons back from the dead.

What about the scroll rack she'd knocked over? Could she fix that?

She turned to it, studying it. "Return to your position on the wall, completely repaired and as if I had never knocked you over." she said, and watched as it obeyed her command. She felt a tingle of excitement mingling with fear, she was never going to get over the surreal feeling of using actual magic, was she?

Suddenly, a huge crash echoed through the corridors. Her ears flattened and she instinctively crouched, trying to make herself smaller. What was that? She ran over to the nearest scroll rack, casually scrabbling about, pretending to order scrolls to seem busy so if Kestrel wasn't mad she wouldn't shout at her too much.

But as she re-ordered the scrolls somewhat pointlessly, she realized that Kestrel wasn't mad at any of them. She could hear her shouting at what sounded like the other guardians. So... my friends aren't in trouble. That's a relief. She snuck up to the wall that bordered the room that the shouting seemed to be happening and pressed her ear against it.

"I'm not sure what he knows or why he cares." said a voice that sounded like Webs. "The message just said 'Morrowseer is coming.' I'm supposed to meet him and bring him here tomorrow."

Morrowseer... that sounds like a NightWing name. she wracked her brain. It sounded familiar. Wait. It's the dragon who wrote the prophecy. The entire reason we're all here in the first place. But why does Webs have to take him to this cave? Surely if he can see the future then he'll know where we are? Something didn't add up to her, but then she had no clue how the power of foresight worked so she couldn't criticize.

Maybe she could use her magic to find out, and give herself those powers to see. Mind reading and prophecy would be cool to have. And then... why stop there? If she could give herself that, then why couldn't she do more?

She shook her head, no. She would not use her magic. She didn't know the risks of using it yet. She had to research more to know what effect that could have on her.

Wait.

What if Morrowseer found out about her magic from reading it in her mind?

She had to protect herself. Maybe make it so mind-readers couldn't see inside her head? In case she met any other NightWings as well for whatever reason. Apart from Starflight, who anyone could figure out in the first five minutes of meeting him that he had no special powers. Unlike me... a small part of her whispered. She tried not to think about that, it wasn't very nice.

Yes, a spell against mind reading. That would work.

But then... should she use her magic if she didn't know the cost to her soul?

She didn't know what sort of a dragon Morrowseer was.

Aaaaaahhhhhhh that was tempting her to use her magic again.

She should just protect her mind and see how he was when he came.

Nothing more. No more using her magic after that.

What should she enchant? She looked around for something that she could maybe wear, like a bracelet or a necklace. She saw nothing. Hopefully she could find something in another room.

But for now, she would continue to eavesdrop to see if she could learn anything more. She pressed her ear against the wall, and heard nothing. The conversation had ended.

Chapter 5

Sunny woke in the middle of the night. For a while, she lay with her eyes closed, listening to see if anyone was awake.

After a while, she confirmed that everyone was asleep. The other dragonets lay curled around her, all breathing slowly, in that state of unconsciousness that came with resting. She raised her head, looking over her sleeping friends. Slowly, she stood up, lifting her tail up so it wouldn't trail over any of her friends and risk waking them. She had to do the enchantment now, while everyone else was asleep. She didn't know when Morrowseer would arrive, but she knew that Webs was also asleep at the moment, so it would be a bit of time till Morrowseer came. She had no idea if this sort of opportunity would arise again, so she would have to search for something to enchant now.

Quietly leaping over Clay's tail, she took a last look back to check they were still sleeping. Now... where to find something to enchant. She figured that if she couldn't find something, she'd have to make it. Maybe from yesterday's dinner's bones if she could find them - and if she had the stomach to wear it.

She entered the study cave, tip-taloning across the cold stone. She stayed low, a slight anxiety building in her chest - worried that someone or something in the shadows was watching. She couldn't hear anyone, but this did little to settle her nerves. Her eyes were somewhat good at seeing in the dark, and they were adjusting gradually to the weak light given off from the moons through the sky hole.

Hmmm... she thought, looking around for anywhere there would be a bracelet. She knew Webs had brought some things back from the outside, and there might have been some sort of treasure. But she might not have time for any sort of proper search, and it could cause a racket if she lifted things or looked under them.

"Why is this taking so long?" she found herself growling quietly under her breath. It was impatient of her to say this already, but she had been half expecting to find something immediately. "Surely there should be SOMETHING."

Doing one final search, the closest she found to something wearable was a small slightly-frayed rope. Well, it was more like string, but it could do. She wondered if she could find anything more durable, but just as she turned to go to the training cave she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, still clutching the pathetic piece of string.

Starflight stood in the entranceway. Sunny could just about make his vague silhouette out. The star-scales all NightWings had under their wings glimmered in the faint moonlight. The scattering of silver reflections sprayed across the floor like molten starlight. He took a careful step forwards and asked in a shaky voice, "Sunny? What are you doing, up so late?"

She reached over for a torch that had been put out for the night, and breathed a small spark of fire onto it. It burst into flame, and she placed it back in the holder on the wall. "I couldn't sleep and I wanted to do some more studying. There's something I don't quite understand and I want to reread it." It was a bad lie, but she hoped he'd accept it so he could leave quickly and go back to sleep. Actually, she realized, she was supposed to read up on animus magic. So it wasn't necessarily a lie after all. She internally sighed with relief.

"Ah! What are you studying?" he whispered eagerly, taking a couple of steps forwards. "Can I help?"

As she looked at his excited face, she couldn't help feeling guilty. She smiled and said quietly: "Sure!". She couldn't help worrying that the more time they spent here, the more likely it would be that Kestrel, or Webs, or Dune discovered them, but she supposed if she listened out for any signs they were awake they would be ok.

"What are you exactly looking to research?" he said excitedly under his breath. "NightWing history? Unnatural dragon abilities?"

"Actually, animus magic." she said, pulling out the still-rather-tattered scroll titled The Animus Histories and rolling it open.

"Oh! What do you want to study exactly? What about notable animi - like Albatross who was responsible for the Great SeaWing Massacre? Did you know that he killed most of his family? Or maybe Fathom, his grandson - who went missing shortly after? Ooooooor Jerboa, the SandWing animus who also went missing? Wow, a lot of animi went missing... Or went insane. Or died in horrific ways, such as Prince Arctic who-"

"Uhhh..." Sunny said quickly, knowing that she really wouldn't like what came next in the sentence. "No thanks... I don't want to get nightmares, I've already had enough trouble sleeping. I was more interested in how the magic itself works."

"Ahhh." he said. "What about the enchanted talismans they created? Such as the many IceWing gifts given to the-"

"No, no," she said, interrupting him before he could get side-tracked. His face fell and she immediately felt bad. "Sorry. I mean... What does it do to a dragon to have that kind of power?"

His face lit up, "Ah! Where do I begin? Animus dragons can do whatever they like with their magic, aside from bring dragons back from the dead. The capabilities are nearly endless, the only limit beyond resurrection is the animus' imagination. Or..." he paused dramatically. "The dragon's soul. The more an animus uses their magic, the more of a detrimental effect it has on their soul." he yawned. "Sorry, I'm tired. But anyway, the more the soul is worn away, the more the animus becomes insane and unstable. A very famous example would be Albatross, who I mentioned already. He's one of the prime examples of what can happen to an animus if they use too much. Though, surprisingly not many records exist of talismans enchanted by him, though I read he was responsible for constructing a SeaWing palace using only his magic at some point. But then he sort of... murdered a lot of his family, forcing them to relocate."

Sunny felt cold worry building, starting from the base of her neck and spreading down her spine. Is that my destiny - to lose my sanity? What if I hurt my friends? "Oh, wow."

"I know right?" he said, raising his voice above a whisper in his excitement. "Whoops, um, but yes, fascinating history. I can tell you more, if you'd like."

He paused for a moment, and then yawned very loudly. "Maybe not, I'm getting pretty tired. We should probably go back to sleep. If you want I can help you study more in the morning!"

"I think I might stay here a bit longer, but thank you." she said simply but softly. "Goodnight, Starflight."

"Bye." he said quietly, and the fading light of the torch flickered. She blinked, and he was gone like a wisp of smoke from an invisible flame.

She sat in silence for a while, thinking. The torch light had faded by quite a bit since their conversation had begun, and it was beginning to flicker into burnt-out cinders. She drifted into daydreaming - could it even be called daydreaming if it was night? She wasn't sure.

Her thoughts were interrupted by thumping talons, that very quickly got louder. She recognised them - too regular to be Dune's and too slamming to be Webs. Kestrel! She's coming! Sunny thought, looking around in panic. She fumbled at a shelf for something, and her claws closed around a scroll weight. She held it in her talons and whispered, "Hide me." Then she wondered if that was too vague, and continued: "Make me invisible to Kestrel."

It was just in time, as a crimson shape appeared in the entranceway. She almost breathed a sigh of relief that it was Kestrel, it would have been catastrophic if it had turned out to be someone else. She watched as Kestrel stormed over to the smouldering torch, completely oblivious to Sunny's presence, and whipped around growling. "Who's there?" she demanded. "Show yourself!"

Sunny sidled towards the archway, as Kestrel stared around blindly. She so so hoped that she wouldn't knock anything over to attract attention. As soon as she was a safe distance from the angry SkyWing, she turned and ran as quietly as she could down the corridor back to the sleeping cave. She skirted around the other dragonets as she entered, desperately trying not to wake any of them as her panicked breaths shuddered in and out of her lungs.

She lay down on the stone, willing herself to sleep. Please please please please... As her heart rate calmed, to her relief, she began to drift off again.

Chapter 6

Kestrel thundered into the cave at what felt like the middle of the night. Sunny almost would've believed that, but all of the other dragonets looked well-rested, which they couldn't have been if only a short amount of sleep had occurred. Also, she was pretty certain it had been the middle of the night when she'd been talking to Starflight. She rubbed her eyes groggily.

She saw that Kestrel stood in the entranceway of the sleeping cave, with Webs standing behind her, watching from one side.

As she got up, she heard Kestrel ask, almost in a demanding voice: "Where is Sunny?"

Clay and Tsunami looked at each other, then at Sunny. Sunny realized with a sinking feeling she'd forgotten about the spell she cast last night to hide herself from Kestrel. She noticed most of her was shielded by the other dragonets Quietly, she searched for a rock on the floor, as Tsunami glared at Kestrel disbelievingly. "Are you blind? She's right here." she said, pointing. Just as Tsunami pointed, Sunny whispered, "Make me visible to Kestrel again."

Kestrel's eyes narrowed, and then she spun around with a hiss. She stomped out of the cave, past Webs who almost fell over trying to get out of her way. I so hope that me just popping into existence didn't look suspicious.

"What was that all about?" Glory asked, looking puzzled. Just then, Clay groggily staggered to his feet and stumbled into her side. She gave him a swift kick to the side and he groaned, almost collapsing onto the floor again.

Sunny shrugged, feeling cold terror creep through every muscle in her body. Did Kestrel see her reappear? Was her secret out?

Starflight appeared at her left side, and smiled. "Do you want to continue studying animus magic? If you want we can do a more in-depth study of The Animus Histories, along with some other scrolls we might be able to scrounge up?"

She nodded, and said: "But after breakfast." And then it hit her that Morrowseer was going to arrive today. She didn't know when, but since Webs was here it wasn't too soon. She needed to get that enchantment in place before he arrived, otherwise she was in danger.

"Of course. Can't study on an empty stomach." and with that, he swept away. Well, it was an attempt of a sweep. Maybe he felt more important now that one of his own tribe was coming to visit them. If he even knew about Morrowseer, that was.

Just as she was thinking about how to find something wearable in that time, it hit her. She didn't need to find anything, SHE WAS AN ANIMUS. She could MAKE a necklace. She wanted to slap herself.

Suddenly, she was aware that she was alone with Clay. "Oh, you can go without me to breakfast. I need some scrolls for my study session with Starflight."

Clay wrinkled his nose. "Study session? Sounds boring." his stomach growled. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay? I can stay if, uh, I'm needed to."

She laughed. "I'm sure, Clay."

"Cool!" he said. "I mean, sorry. Bye!" he said, and he turned and charged down the corridor. She laughed at his vanishing tail, shaking her head. Typical Clay, he's so obsessed with food. At least he was being nice by staying though. She knew where he'd have wanted to be, and she admired his loyalty. She wished she could be seen as loyal in the same way Clay was to his friends.

She was getting side-tracked. She picked up a pebble, and examined it briefly. "I enchant this rock to turn into a simple necklace, that consists of a plain rope and a grey stone roughly carved into the shape of a leaf for the decoration." After all, it couldn't be too extravagant, and she liked what she'd seen of leaves in the books - they looked cool and intricate. It had to look as though she'd made it herself. Sure enough, it morphed into a necklace that fit the description she'd given - even the image she'd had in her head which surprised her. "Now. I enchant this necklace to hide my thoughts from all mind readers while I am wearing it."

Nothing happened. No special sparkly magic stuff that gave any sort of visual indication that something had worked. It looked exactly the same. How do I know it works properly? Did I even cast the spell right? Worry creased her expression, and she turned it over in her hands. Wait... What if Morrowseer realizes he can't read my mind? Will he be suspicious? ARGHGHHH!! She growled in frustration. Sunny! Stop overthinking this. What about a spell that just hides any thoughts about my animus magic? Would that even work?

She paced back and forth. She'd gone into this thinking it would be simple, an easy fix. She was so wrong. And now her brain hurt.

She had to make her mind up quickly. Ok. She was going to enchant the necklace so it hid all thoughts about her animus magic from mind readers. "Undo the last spell I cast on this. Now, enchant this necklace so while I am wearing it, it hides all of the thoughts in my head about my animus magic from mind readers. Yes, that should work." she said aloud.

"What should work?"

She whipped around, to see Glory standing in the entrance of the sleeping cave. Her scales had clouds of light blue and purple spreading across them, which Sunny knew as curiosity and confusion. "Glory... I..." Sunny stammered, dropping the necklace to the floor. It fell with a clatter that she barely heard over the sound of her panicky pounding heart.

"It's ok, you can tell me." Glory said coolly, tipping her head at Sunny. There was a strange kindness in her voice Sunny hadn't heard much before but what surprised her the most was that there was no hint sarcasm or joking whatsoever. There was the slightest hint of suspicion, but she wasn't sure if she was imagining it.

"I don't know how to begin..." Sunny said, looking down guiltily. Part of her was saying she should lie, to keep herself safe. But too much of her was saying she should fess up. But what if the guardians found out? What should she do? Glory seemed so open and approachable now. She didn't know if she'd get another opportunity where Glory would believe her.

"I'm..." Sunny stammered. She awkwardly picked up the necklace and put it on. Glory watched her patiently.

"You're...?" Glory said, raising an eyebrow.

Sunny took a deep breath, "I'm an animus." she blurted.

Both of Glory's eyebrows were raised now. "That was... not the answer I was expecting. Are you sure?"

Something about her demeanour and the flickering of colours on her scales suggested that she didn't quite believe Sunny. Sunny looked down at the floor.

"I can demonstrate... if you don't believe me." Sunny suggested hesitantly. Glory nodded slightly, tilting her head curiously. "I don't know what to do though..." Sunny trailed off.

"What about bringing this scroll to you?" Glory said, sounding somewhat engaged, but still somewhat bored as she always did. She pulled out a random scroll from the scroll rack. Sunny realized that that was the same scroll she'd had trouble with the day before - the one that helped her discover her power in the first place.

Sunny nodded, "Ok." She inhaled slowly to calm herself and then listened out to see if anyone was coming, and when she confirmed she couldn't hear anyone, she half-whispered. "Lift the scroll Glory is holding out of her talons, and bring it to me."

The scroll floated into the air in a slightly wobbly fashion - quaking in a similar way to how Sunny's legs felt. It slowly made its way over to Sunny's hesitant outstretched talons as if it was smugly drawing the moment out for extra shock factor. Glory watched the scroll in amazement - the most amazement Sunny had ever seen the calm and collected RainWing show. As the scroll landed firmly at its destination in Sunny's outstretched palm, she shrugged. "Tada?" she said pathetically.

Glory was silent for so long Sunny worried that she'd forgotten how to speak - which was admittedly impossible, but still. The only sign she saw of Glory's internal discussion was the flashing colours along her scales that were quickly subdued by other, calmer colours, but then replaced by the harsher confused colours again. Finally, Glory spoke. "That's really cool."

Sunny laughed, a short terrified outburst as her nerves got a hold of her. But she forced herself to calm down. She'd expected something more criticizing or harsh from the sassy RainWing.

"I wish I had animus magic," Glory continued slowly, with a slight tone of awkwardness. "That's really cool." she said again.

"Uh." Sunny said, her tail twitching nervously. "Please don't tell anyone. Especially not the guardians."

"Hah!" Glory snorted, her tone of voice and body language changing immediately to become less tense. "Why would I tell the guardians? They've wanted me dead since day one. What use would it do to tell them, apart from being called a liar as well? As for Starflight, Clay and Tsunami, I promise I won't tell them either. It's your secret to share, I guess." She shrugged, and flicked Sunny with her tail. "Come on, let's go get you some breakfast. I've already had mine"

Sunny nodded, still relieved that Glory was totally calm about it. Before they left, Sunny remembered to grab some scrolls about animus magic for study with Starflight.

Chapter 7

Morrowseer arrived later that day, when the sunlight shining through the sky hole was fading.

She knew it was him immediately, his footsteps were loud. He seemed to slam his talons down as he walked - even more so than Kestrel - causing the harsh sound to echo throughout the caves - giving the impression he was a whole hoard of dragons arriving to announce the dragonets' demise.

When she saw him, his looming dark figure - she felt fear creeping up her spine. He was huge, standing so much taller than any of the guardians. His charcoal black scales looked tough and impenetrable, and but slightly scuffed. They didn't shine like Starflight's, instead they looked matte and woven from shadows. He looked kind of thin, but at the same time he had noticeable muscles. And then she had to look away, before her soul was sucked out of her eyes entirely.

The other dragonets were there too, facing him. Sunny didn't need to be a mind reader to tell what he was thinking - his resentful expression said all of what he thought of them. We've already failed... she thought. We're not worthy. What does he think of Glory?

She leaned into Clay's side, half hoping that he would hide her, or protect her. She felt him trembling too, but not nearly as much as she was. She felt her scales prickle as his stare passed over her, and she saw his expression harden to disgust as he spotted Glory. He let out a low growl, and Sunny felt a cold dread creeping through her. She didn't know what to think, her mind was racing in panic, all she could think was: I hope Glory will be ok. and I'm so glad that's not me... But it might be soon.... She couldn't think straight. She felt paralyzed.

Morrowseer's head swivelled around, slowly. His eyes narrowed as they fixated on Kestrel. He raised a talon, and pointed it at Glory. "What. Is. THAT?" he hissed through his teeth. She could hear the disgust dripping from every syllable.

Sunny was frozen, otherwise she would've looked over at Glory. She guessed Glory hadn't moved - as she hadn't heard any movement from that direction. Glory was calm, but Sunny wasn't sure if she would be able to keep that for long. She shuddered.

"There was an accident." Kestrel said simply, not swayed by his fury at all. "We lost the SkyWing egg, so we had to get another one somewhere-"

"From the RainWings?" Morrowseer snapped, flicking his tail. He looked furious.

Kestrel frowned, slightly outraged at being interrupted, and closed her mouth. Then, her facial expression morphed into certainty and she growled, "It was his idea." She pointed at Webs furiously with her tail. "He brought her egg here!"

"At least we have five dragonets." Webs said defensively. "That's all that matters."

Morrowseer grunted quietly, looking down his snout at Glory. Then, he turned to face Sunny. Panic bolted through her and she let out a small squeak. She tried to make herself smaller. She didn't like this at all, everyone staring at her, their eyes piercing her scales, turning what felt like her thoughts over and over for examination. That was probably what Morrowseer was actually doing, seeing how terrified she was. Realizing how unworthy she was.

"More like four and half." Morrowseer said harshly, leaning closer to her to study her, and now she could feel his warm rot-smelling breath. She wanted to gag. "Are you supposed to be the SandWing? Don't you eat? What's wrong with you?"

She didn't know how to respond, her thoughts jumbling over one another. She tried to say something, anything, but her throat was constricting, suffocating her so she could only manage a few squeaks. She felt pathetic.

She was so glad when Tsunami spoke up. "She does. She eats fine. As much as anyone." Sunny wasn't entirely sure that was true, because Clay ate a lot more than what she figured Tsunami meant by 'anyone'.

"It's not her fault she's small." Starflight said, backing Tsunami up. He nodded confidently, but still didn't really dare to stand as boldly as Tsunami was.

"She's a good fighter, and so is Glory." Clay added on. He looked at Sunny reassuringly. She felt the tension in her chest ease ever so slightly.

Morrowseer's tail lashed. "Stop talking now." he said sharply, and silence fell in the cave. The last word 'now' rung out in the cave. His eyes went to Clay, and then to the guardians. "Something has gone very wrong here."

Sunny bowed her head. What would happen to them now?

To her utter surprise, Tsunami spoke up again. "Yes! It has, and I can tell you what. We're treated like prisoners! We've never been outside these caves, not once." Sunny watched the NightWing's face harden into a subtle but still furious snarl, but Tsunami barreled on. "All we know about this world we're supposed to save is what we've learned in scrolls. We're supposed to be the most important dragonets in the world, but those three treat us like blind salamanders!"

Sunny looked at Tsunami in disbelief, and saw that she had no regret on her face, just what looked like self-justified anger and determination. Kestrel's eyes seemed to boil with resentment, smoke rising from her nostrils. Dune was the one to talk, however. "Tsunami, hold your tongue." he snapped.

Tsunami gave him a look of outrage, "I will not." she turned to Morrowseer. "Please get us out of here. Take us away with you."

Sunny hoped that Morrowseer didn't do that. He knew, of all dragons, when the dragonets would be allowed into the world to save the seven tribes. Besides, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go out just yet. From what they'd learned, any one of them - apart from Glory or Starflight maybe - would be attacked due to the sides in the war. It would be dangerous, not to mention they were apparently in the SkyWing Kingdom, which was ruled by one of the most ruthless queens in the history of Pyrrhia. Sunny wasn't sure if that was an exaggeration, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Kestrel hissed, "Ungrateful lizard!"

Suddenly, there was a blur. Sunny blinked, and Morrowseer was attacking Tsunami. Oh no... He wants to kill her! I have to protect her!

Her first thought went to her magic, she could maybe cast something to stop the fight, or protect Tsunami. But wouldn't that reveal it all?

She had to use her claws. She saw that Clay had attacked, and that was the perfect distraction. But how would she attack? Morrowseer was an ancient dragon, with scales probably thicker than the length of one of her claws.

The tail... What was it Kestrel had said about the tail? Yes, the weak spot of every dragon, no matter the tribe, was the very tip of the tail. She would bite that. She ducked as Clay went sailing over her head. As she moved towards Morrowseer's tail, she heard the splash of the river and knew at least some part of Clay had landed in it.

She snuck up, and quickly sunk her teeth into the tip of his tail. Her teeth did not meet solid, painful scales like she'd half-expected, but soft squishy flesh that almost made her let go in disgust. It tasted so strongly like smoke and death that her eyes watered, but at least it had the desired effect. Morrowseer grunted in pain, and she found she was being lifted up. She clung on, and then saw that he'd lifted her up to his face so he could study her. Again, she felt the creeping uncomfortable feeling that she got when she was being stared at, but refused to let go.

"Ha. That's a surprise." he said simply, and pried her jaws off. Her bottom jaw flared up in pain as it twisted, and he dropped her onto the stone floor. For a moment, she wondered if she should heal it. It ached, and if it didn't stop she would find it hard to eat later.

What if Morrowseer could read that, though? She figured he wouldn't, especially now because he was distracted. She picked up the first thing she got her talons around, which turned out to be a rock. Heal my bottom jaw. she thought. Good. That's nice and brief. She felt the pain ease instantly, and her jaw clicked back into its socket. After a few seconds, it didn't hurt at all.

She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times to test it, then quietly discarded the rock by throwing it into the river.

"That one will do." Morrowseer's voice rang out, echoing ominously like a shadow delivering its judgement, pointing at Tsunami. Sunny looked around the cave and saw that neither Glory nor Starflight had moved. She understood why Starflight hadn't wanted to fight, it was a fellow NightWing, he didn't like to fight, and he most likely was too scared. But Glory - Sunny wondered why she hadn't fought. Surely she could've proved her worth to the massive dragon? Maybe then he would think she was worthy.

"And that one will do." Morrowseer continued, indicating Clay. Kestrel gave a disbelieving snort.

Then, he turned to Sunny, and she flinched back. "This one..." he said, studying her. She tried to look braver and bigger, but she didn't think she succeeded as her talons were trembling too much. His piercing void-like black eyes looked from her strange tail, to her golden scales, to her non-SandWing eyes, and she began to feel as though he may decide she wasn't worthy after all. "We'll have to see." he rumbled. Then, he turned accusingly to the guardians.

"We followed the prophecy," Dune said, looking up at him. "She wasn't in a clutch of eggs - I found her egg alone, buried out in the desert. Just like the prophecy said."

It suddenly hit her that he might continue on to say where he found her egg. She looked at him hopefully, willing him to continue. They hardly ever spoke about where any of the dragonets' eggs had come from.

Morrowseer grunted in disinterest, and Dune looked away, closing his mouth. She felt disappointment rising. Maybe she should have to ask him later. It would go the same was as it usually did, but it could be worth a try.

Or... she could use her magic on a scroll? Or the map in the study cave? Maybe she could enchant them to tell her where her parents were, or any of the other dragonets.

But then... then she'd have to tell them and it was bad enough that Glory knew - even though she knew she could trust her. The more dragons who knew, the more risk she was at of dragons who she didn't want knowing to know. And then it occurred to her...

Oh no oh no oh no oh no he can read it in Glory's thoughts, can't he? What have I done? she thought in sudden terror. But why hasn't he acted on it? Surely it would be suspicious if only Glory knew - maybe she's not thinking about it, yes, maybe that's it. All she knew is that she had to fix that later.

"As for you." Morrowseer said, breaking Sunny out of her thoughts. She looked up to see that the NightWing was facing Starflight now. "I assume you used your NightWing powers to figure out I wasn't going to harm the SeaWing. Perhaps you even had a vision of my visit today. No doubt you know I'm going to take you into the next cavern for a private conversation."

That didn't make sense. Starflight didn't have any powers. Wouldn't Morrowseer have known that? Maybe he doesn't realize that we don't know Starflight's missing them. But then... wouldn't he know that from reading our minds? Or Starflight's own mind?

Maybe she cast that spell to hide some of her thoughts for nothing. Maybe Morrowseer wasn't a mind reading NightWing? After all, he was famous for telling the prophecy, not reading dragons' thoughts ominously. After all, if he didn't have any powers then that would mean the prophecy was fake - and she really didn't want to think about that right now.

It nagged at her brain but she decided to accept that. Yes, Morrowseer couldn't read her mind, but he could see the future. The prophecy wasn't a lie - it couldn't be.

As Morrowseer turned to leave, he looked back. "We'll talk about her later." He didn't bother to look at Glory while saying this, but everyone knew who he meant. Glory didn't flinch under the glare of so many dragons like Sunny had. Instead, she looked bored, and lifted her chin slightly in silent defiance. Morrowseer turned and left to have his conversation with Starflight.

Chapter 8

When Starflight finally came back, he was quiet. Only Sunny and Clay remained in the cave.

Glory had gone sadly to her sleeping cave and Tsunami was fuming in a torrent of bubbles in the river.

Clay walked up to Starflight as he turned to go into his sleeping cave, his face creased with concern. "What happened? What did they say to you?"

Starflight exhaled through his nose, "I'm not supposed to talk about it." He sat down, and started searching through the scrolls on the floor.

As much as she wanted to stay and hear what Starflight was going to say, Sunny figured she should check on Tsunami. Glory would want to be left alone to sleep.

While Clay comforted Starflight, she turned and left. Tsunami emerged from the water, taking deep calming breaths. "Are you ok?" Sunny asked.

Tsunami responded with a bitter shrug. "I'm still mad. It's just.... RGHHHHHHHH," she growled. "The guardians are so frustrating." Her luminescent scales flashed as she rammed her front talons into the ground.

Suddenly, Kestrel appeared out of nowhere, lunging from one of the cave entrances. She grabbed Tsunami and pulled her back.

Tsunami responded just as quickly, breaking free and leaping into the river. Sunny's heart pounded, but she didn't know what to do. Her mind was whirling, and completely blank at the same time, and she froze up.

"What are you doing?" she cried past the stiffness of her throat, as Webs leapt into the water. Dune and Kestrel had grabbed an iron chain and were standing at the bank, waiting for Webs and Tsunami to resurface. "What's that for?" she cried again, and then leapt forwards. She was immediately yanked back. She looked up to see that Morrowseer had wrapped his tail around her, and she felt a crushing sensation splinter across her chest as it tightened.

She struggled, and managed to shout again, hoping her questions would be answered. "Stop! Wait! You don't have to do that!"

She bit at Morrowseer's tail, but this time he was ready. He grunted, and held on tighter.

At the entrance, Clay appeared. He skidded to a stop, followed by Starflight.

Webs emerged, dragging Tsunami after him. She fought bitterly, but it was no use. Kestrel and Dune wrapped the chains around Tsunami's neck and one of her legs. Then, the three guardians hauled her over to one of the rock columns that was so big it linked the floor to the ceiling. They threw the chains around the column, and Kestrel lifted up two ends of the chain. The chains were so tight around the rock Tsunami could barely move.

Kestrel exhaled a blast of red-orange flame, and the chain glowed molten, before melding together. "Maybe some time away from the river will teach you to be grateful for what you have." she growled.

Clay ran forwards, and began to tug at the chains - before the heat got to him and he was forced to release it. "Let her go!" he cried.

Morrowseer's grip loosened, and Sunny could breathe properly again. She gasped for air, forcing herself to stay standing.

"You'll regret this!" Tsunami shouted. She struggled, clawing at the chains. The chain tightened, forcing her to stop quickly. "When we're free - when my family hears about this - when the rest of the world finds out how you treated the dragonets of destiny-"

Kestrel smirked, pacing towards Tsunami, just far enough away that Tsunami's attempts to attack her fell short. "All your big dreams of your wonderful family." Kestrel said mockingly, as Tsunami growled and swiped at her again. "They don't care about you. When it's time to fulfill the prophecy, you'll be alive, and the Talons of Peace will have you, and that's all that matters."

"Why are you doing this?" Sunny cried, before feeling everyone's eyes on her. She didn't back down, though. "Tsunami's the good one! She's wonderful! If anyone can save the world, it's her!"

Morrowseer clicked his tongue quietly in a patronizing way. "Actually, tiny SandWing, the dragonet you should believe in is Starflight over there." he inclined his head in Starflight's reaction, who ducked his head. "NightWings are natural leaders. You do what he says and you'll be all right."

Sunny felt outrage build in her chest. Of course he would say that. He was a NightWing. A pompous self-centered lizard-brain. Then she stopped herself. Starflight wasn't like that. He may not be Tsunami, but would he actually be that bad of a leader? Her original outrage faded, and she tried to calm herself.

Morrowseer narrowed his eyes at Glory, who had reappeared in the archway of her sleeping cave. "I'll be back tomorrow." he said ominously, diverting his attention to the guardians. "To make sure that everything has been... dealt with."

"We understand." Kestrel responded.

Sunny couldn't help but shiver in fear at what that implied. What do they mean? Are they going to kill Glory?! She worried at the rock beneath her, her anxiety disorientating her. Dune and Kestrel rolled the boulder away together, and stood to the side to let Morrowseer leave. He squeezed through the gap, and vanished into the night.

Webs walked up to Tsunami as she strained at the chains again. "This is for your own good." he said, stopping just out of her reach. She scratched at him and he took a step back. "We only want to keep you safe. Maybe this isn't the perfect way, but-"

"But the dragonets don't know what's best for them." Dune interrupted, finishing Webs' sentence as the boulder thudded back into place. "You need us, whether you like it or not."

"You were all awful today." Kestrel said, facing into the cave so she could see all five of the dragonets. "No dinner for any of you." Sunny glanced sideways and saw Clay's dismayed expression. "Go to bed, and I don't want to hear a squawk out of anyone till morning."

Tsunami's face set in grim determination, and she tugged at her chains, trying to get close to Kestrel. "Really? What else are you going to do to me?" she challenged. "What if I feel like singing all night?" She opened her mouth and started to sing. Badly.

Sunny recognized it immediately. Webs had taught it to them a while ago, it was the bar song that was about the coming of the dragonets of destiny.

"Your fault." Dune snarled at Webs over Tsunami's raucous shout-singing. "I told you not to teach them that horrible song."

At this, Tsunami bellowed out the lines even louder: "OH, THE DRAGONETS ARE COMING!"

"We have more chains!" Kestrel yelled at her, shouting straight into her ear. "We could throw one around your snout if you would like me to force you to be quiet."

Tsunami stopped, glaring at Kestrel. She looked as if she was considering this, but in a mocking mutinous way. She opened her mouth again, and Kestrel snarled again. "Or we could chain up one of your friends. Perhaps Clay would like to spend the night hanging from a stalactite, so you have some company out here."

Sunny looked at Clay, who looked as shocked and uneasy as she felt. Tsunami's jaw snapped shut and she lay down, turning her head away from everyone. She radiated resentment, but didn't sing another line.

"Much better." Kestrel snarled, turning and leaving. Webs followed, his wet tail slithering across the floor.

As Dune went to leave, Sunny pounced on his tail. It was worth a shot, trying to bargain for Tsunami's release - even if it wasn't very likely. "Please don't leave her like this." she said, looking up at him. "I know you're not that mean."

She fell to the side as Dune shook her off. She winced as her scales barked against the rough stone. "We're doing what we have to." he said solemnly.

As she lay there, it occurred to her that they were planning to do something particular. Although Tsunami was being a nuisance to them and Kestrel was prone to punishing the dragonets for the smallest things, there had to be another reason. Tsunami had pounced on the first opportunity of freedom they'd had in a while, but it hadn't worked. Even though this was the most rebellious act Tsunami had ever attempted, it still felt extreme to tie her up completely. She looked over to see Clay tugging at the chains again. Tsunami whispered something to him. He shivered, and then turned to the river.

He's going to eavesdrop on them... Sunny thought. The guardians are planning something, and I think I know what... She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. They're planning to kill Glory, aren't they?

She looked over to see Clay had gone. Only ripples were left in the water.

Looking back at Glory, at her calm scales and casual demeanour, Sunny wondered if she fully knew of the true extent of danger she was in.

Chapter 9

Clay resurfaced after a long while, panting heavily.

Sunny ran over to him. "What was it? What happened?"

His face was riddled with concern and he turned to Glory. "Kestrel's going to kill you. They tied Tsunami up so she can't stop her. They're going to do it when we're all asleep. I-" he sighed. "What do we do?"

"It's not true!" Sunny cried. "They wouldn't!"

"They definitely would." Tsunami said, shrugging slightly. "They'll do anything if they think it's right for the prophecy."

They all looked at Glory, and Sunny saw that she'd lost her cool. Her scales were the dreadful pale green of fear and distress. She was pacing, around and around the column Tsunami was tied to.

"But we won't let them." Clay said desperately. "Right, Tsunami? We'll stop them."

"You don't have to get involved." Glory said, in a slightly forced way. "This is my problem, not yours."

Sunny drifted into her thoughts. How could she help? Her magic! What if she made Glory invisible, or protected her from whatever Kestrel would try. But then... wouldn't they find out about her magic? But it would be worth it - to save Glory. She felt a desperate sadness twist at her heart if she thought about it for too long. She was called back into the real world by Clay. "...we escape, tonight. Right now."

"Escape?" she echoed. They're thinking about escaping? I guess that would make sense...

"Seriously." Glory said, her frill flashing in blood-red streaks for a second. "You don't have to do anything. I'm the one that doesn't fit in. I'll - I'll fight her or... figure something out..." She trailed off, looking bleak.

"Of course we have to do something." Clay said fiercely.

Starflight piped up. "If escape were that easy, we'd have done it already." he pointed out. He walked over to the boulder, and tapped it with one claw. "This is the only way out. And they have it on a mechanism that only the big dragons can move."

"They do?" Clay said, sounding surprised.

Starflight nodded. "You know how Dune never leaves because he can't fly? He has a stone that fits in this slot." he ran his claw through the groove in the wall. "He turns it in here to unlock something so they can roll the boulder from inside the cave. But when Kestrel or Webs come from outside, there must be a lever or switch they use to open it from out there."

"Oh." Clay said.

Sunny looked at the groove in the wall. Could she duplicate the key? But then... she'd have to know what it looked like. Arghhhh. We have to steal it, don't we? "So can we steal Dune's rock?" she suggested. If it was necessary... I could use my magic.

"Terrible idea." Glory said immediately, giving Sunny a sideways glance. Sunny knew what she was thinking, the key would be impossible to steal without magic, and if she used magic it would be obvious to everyone pretty quickly that she was an animus.

"They'd catch us for sure." Starflight said, less harshly. "Especially tonight, when they're already on high alert because of Morrowseer."

Sunny nodded. Then she frowned, another idea striking her. "Well, then what about the sky-" she began.

"Is there any way to move the boulder without the rock?" Tsunami interrupted, waving a talon.

Starflight responded with a shake of his head. "Only from the outside. It's impossible from in here. Believe me, I've thought about it."

"Maybe the sky-" Sunny tried again.

"And we couldn't force it?" Clay said, turning to Starflight. "Even if we leaned really hard?"

Starflight shook his head, and Glory said "This is all really sweet, guys, but you shouldn't get in trouble for me. Morrowseer likes the rest of you. Just let me handle myself."

"Stop that." Tsunami snapped at her. "Acting like a martyr won't help right now."

Glory's scales flared red for a second. "I'm not acting like a martyr. I'm trying to make sure nobody gets killed for no reason."

"Besides you." Tsunami argued back, her luminescent scales flashing. "It's fine if its you getting killed for no reason?"

"It just doesn't matter." Glory responded, waving a talon somewhat dismissively. "I'm not even in the prophecy, so who cares what happens to me?"

"I swear I'm going to kill you myself." Tsunami growled, rising to her feet.

"Glory, she's trying to say that we care." Clay said, putting one wing in front of Tsunami. "In her usual gentle way."

Sunny spotted a gap in the conversation and jumped in, "Guys, what about the sky hole? In the study room? Couldn't we fly up to it and squeeze out?" she spread her wings to attract more attention so they didn't just ignore her again. I think I could make the sky hole bigger in case it's too small?

"Oh, Sunny, don't be ridiculous." Tsunami sighed, and Sunny felt a stab of annoyance. But then, this was Tsunami.

"It's way too small." Starflight explained. "We'd never fit, especially Clay."

Glory looked at Sunny, the same look that she'd given her before.

Sunny continued anyway. "But maybe I might. I could climb out and then go around and open the boulder from the outside, like Starflight said. Right? And I could let you all out?"

Clay brushed his wing against hers, and twined his tail around her. She felt a sinking feeling growing in her chest. They wouldn't listen to her.

"It won't work. I'm sorry, Sunny." Starflight said. "I've flown up to the hole when no one was around."

"Me too." Tsunami said.

"Me too." Glory said, glancing at Sunny.

"The hole is smaller than you think." Starflight said, turning to Sunny again. He looked apologetic. "I can barely fit my head through it. It's not a way out."

"The minders wouldn't have left it there if it was." Glory said, dark green rippling through her scales. Sunny recognized that as... distress or fear? "They're too careful. There's no way to escape."

Clay stood up, in desperation. "There must be."

Sunny leaned into his side. They were running out of time. What if Kestrel was listening to this? Or any of the other guardians?

Tsunami's brow furrowed in thought.

Sunny tried the desperate option. "What if we talked to them? Maybe convince them to let Glory go instead?" She knew it was dumb but she needed to break the terrifying silence.

The only response was Glory snorting. Nobody else said anything. Sunny looked down at her feet.

"You have an idea." Clay said to Tsunami. "I can tell. You've been working on an escape plan forever."

Tsunami tugged at the chains uncomfortably. "It was supposed to be me. It's too dangerous." Her eyes fell on the river, and Sunny realized that was where she meant to go. The river lead downstream, and if it was flowing, that meant it lead somewhere. And that somewhere would most likely be outside.

"Do you know where the river goes?" Clay asked Tsunami.

Tsunami shook her head. "No. I mean - I've seen the gap in the wall, but its even smaller than the one in the guardians' cave. I've never been through in case I couldn't get back. But the river has to go somewhere."

"Can we get out that way?" Clay said, hope spreading across his face.

"Not all of us." Tsunami said. "Only me."

"And me." Clay said, determinedly.

Tsunami shook her head immediately. "Clay, you can't. We have no idea what's on the other side. You can only hold your breath for an hour. You could get trapped with no air, and drown. And you can't see in the dark like me. You'd be swimming into who knows what. It has to be a SeaWing who goes. It has to be me."

"And even if you did get out, how would you find us again? How would you get back to this cave from the outside?" Starflight said, his brow furrowing.

"The sky hole." Clay said immediately. He looked pleased, and determined. He turned to Glory and Sunny. "You guys start a fire in the study room, and I'll follow the smoke back to you. Then I'll know the entrance is nearby, and once I find it, I can let you all out."

Glory's eyes glinted. "I can think of a few scrolls I'd like to burn."

Starflight's face morphed into a mask of shock. Sunny smiled inwardly, and felt sort of sorry for him.

"Yeah, me too. Throw The Sluglike Qualities of MudWings on there, and think of me."

"Stop joking about this!" Tsunami almost shouted in frustration. "Clay, you can't go and that's final. You'll almost certainly die."

"But Glory will die if I don't. Right? There's no other way." Clay explained. Sunny found herself nodding in agreement.

Tsunami growled, and struggled against the chains furiously. The chains tightened around her chest and neck, and she stopped.

Hang on... wasn't it night time? "Wait, you won't be able to see the smoke until daylight. Won't Kestrel come for Glory before then?"

Glory tipped her chin at Sunny, a smile spreading across her face. Her scales flooded with warm pink, was that joy or amusement? Sunny couldn't remember. "I know what to do," Glory said, almost smugly. "Starflight's method."

"Act like a lump and hope no one notices you?" Tsunami snarled sarcastically.

"Exactly." Glory said. She crouched down, and the greys and browns of the stone began to creep through her scales. Sunny watched in awe as the rock seemed to wrap itself around her, and she vanished from view entirely.

Chapter 10

Sunny stared at the spot Glory had last been. "Wow..." she said. "I mean, I knew you could, but.... I'd never..."

"The guardians don't know I can do this." Glory said from somewhere behind them. Sunny turned round to face where her voice was coming from. "I guess it's a good thing we never studied RainWings after all. I'll find a corner and hide. You don't even have to risk the river, Clay. I could just stay like this."

"For how long?" Starflight said, worriedly. "Until you starve or one of them catches you accidentally?"

Sunny was about to interject and point out that they could feed her some of their food so she wouldn't starve, but Clay spoke up. "Tsunami was right earlier. We do need to get out of here, as soon as we can."

Sunny felt a faint pang of annoyance. Why didn't they tell her before? She looked over at Tsunami, and frowned. "Why didn't anybody tell me?"

No one responded, and she sighed quietly to herself.

"Alright." Glory said, her eyes opening again, looking straight at Clay. "Do what you want, as long as you're not only doing it for me. I'll stay out of the way until Clay comes back to get us." She nodded, and Clay turned to the river.

"I hate this." Tsunami said quietly. "I hate this a lot." She struggled again at the chains and growled.

"I don't love it either." Glory said, somewhere vaguely from Sunny's left.

"Shhhhhhh." Starflight hissed. He stood next to Clay, who was half-submerged and shivering slightly in the shallows of the river. Sunny bounded up to him uncertainly.

"Are we sure this is the only way?" She asked, flicking the top of the water with her tail anxiously. "I bet I could think of some more ideas, with a little more time." Her mind was whirring through different ideas, taking them and discarding them.

"We don't have any more time." Clay said gently, but with a tone of urgency in his voice.

"Follow the current." Starflight said to him, "Don't leave the river. If it goes out into the world anywhere, the current should take you there." He paused for a few seconds, then continued. "Stop and rest any time you find a place to breathe. If you can't find a place where the river surfaces, don't panic or you'll run out of air quicker."

Clay shifted uneasily on his feet, but his face was determined. Glory materialized next to him. "Go hide." he said to her.

"Thank you, Clay." she said quietly. Sunny strained her ears to hear what else she said, but only heard mumbles.

"Same here." Clay rumbled back. He bumped wings with her, and turned to leave.

"Me too." Starflight said solemnly.

Sunny nodded, not quite sure what she was agreeing to, but still wanting to be supportive. She twined her tail around Glory's and brushed one of Clay's talons.

"Good luck." Glory said, stepping out of the river, her tail unravelling from Sunny's. The shadows swallowed her up again.

"Be really, really careful, Clay." Tsunami said, standing at the end of her chains. She was crawling forwards, trying to get closer to Clay. Her face was wrought with anxiety. "Come back if you have to. Don't keep going if it's too dangerous."

"Don't you dare die." Sunny said, wrapping her wings around him.

"You all stay safe, too." Clay said, before taking a deep breath. For a second she thought he would duck beneath the surface and vanish - possibly forever - but he spoke again. "I'll be rolling that boulder away before you know it."

With that, he nodded at them, and dived below the water.

Sunny watched his water-shadow fade away, her heart sinking.

She turned to the wall, looking through the assorted items on the scroll racks and the floor. I have to have a way to know if he's ok.

Her eyes fell on a torch, and she looked back to see Tsunami watching her curiously. She turned back to the wall, and took the torch out of its holder.

Glory materialized beside her. "What are you doing?" she said quietly.

"Checking if Clay's ok." Sunny whispered back. She inspected the torch, thinking about what to say. Her mind settled on something and, under her breath, she said, "I enchant this torch to show how Clay is doing. If it burns brightly, it shows he is ok, but if it goes dim, he is injured or in need of help." she glanced up at Tsunami, thinking how they wouldn't be able to get help quickly enough if he needed it. Unless... they set Tsunami free somehow. "If the torch extinguishes, it... it means he is dead."

The torch flared, and didn't fade. It burned brightly.

Glory's eyes widened. Sunny placed the torch back into its holder, and stepped back. Starflight came up to them, and pulled a scroll from the scroll rack. Once he saw the contents, he sighed. It must have been one of the scrolls he'd already read a million times.

"So now what do we do?" Glory asked. "How do we know if he's going to be ok?"

Tsunami paced, agitated. Sunny wandered over, and studied the mess of iron where Kestrel had breathed her fire to trap Tsunami. Wait... what if...

"Hey Starflight?" she said, calling him over. "What if we used fire to break the chains? Like, how Kestrel did to trap her in the first place?"

His face went thoughtful, and he tapped the mess with one of his talons. "It could work. But Kestrel's fire it much hotter than either of ours... wait!" his face lit up. "Sunny, if we time it perfectly, our fire combined could break it. Can you do that?"

She nodded. She didn't usually like using her fire, but this was important.

She let the fire build in her chest, the slightly uncomfortable heat spreading through her chest. She released it, turning her head to the metal chains. Starflight did the same, and the chains glowed molten red.

Eventually, when she though it was enough, she snapped her jaws shut and cut off the stream of fire. Starflight had already stopped, and was examining the melted links.

"It should be weak enough for you to break free now." Starflight said, studying the rest of the chain. "After all, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And its weakest link at the moment is..." he motioned at one of the links, which looked like it would fall apart even without Tsunami pulling at it.

Tsunami nodded, and began to pull. The chains snapped almost instantly, and went slack as they slid off her limbs. She shook them off, and they rattled across the rough stone, scattering away from her. She stretched, and winced as one of her wings opened.

She's hurt... She might not be able to swim... Sunny thought, her mind riddled with worry.

But Tsunami grinned, flexing her talons. She glanced at the river and then turned to Glory. "I'll catch up to him. Hopefully he isn't... gone."

Glory reappeared, and nodded quietly. "Sunny? Will you check if anyone is coming?"

They both looked at the torch at the same time, and at that moment it flickered. Sunny felt her stomach drop in fear, but it flared back into life.

"Be as quick as you can." Starflight said. Tsunami nodded, then dove into the water without another sound.

Chapter 11

They started the fire pretty quickly underneath the sky hole, Sunny keeping a close eye on Clay's torch the entire time.

It wasn't that difficult to find scrolls to burn, considering there were so many of them, especially ones they didn't mind burning.

Well, Glory and Sunny didn't mind burning them. As they piled more and more onto the fire to keep it lit, Starflight had winced or fretted or asked "Do we really need to burn that one?" "If we're going outside then we need to know the different Pyrrhian wildlife." "Come on, the fire's doing alright. You might smother it if you add on more scrolls."

Glory had completely ignored him with that last comment, and hauled on another five scrolls. She'd then stood back and watched them start to smoke with a pleased expression.

Suddenly, Sunny heard talonsteps and panicked, thinking the spell she'd cast to hide what they were doing from the guardians had failed. Glory flinched, and quickly vanished, but as they all sat in silence and listened, they heard it coming from outside. Sunny ran to the boulder, just in time to see it roll aside.

"Clay! Tsunami!" she whispered happily. "I knew you were ok!"

She bounded forwards and flung her wings around them both. Well, tried to. Her wings were too small to encompass either of them, and their wet scales made it difficult to cling on.

"Where are Starflight and Glory?" Clay whispered back.

"I'll get Starflight." she responded, buzzing happiness spreading through her. They were free! "Glory... though... I don't know."

"Right here." Glory's voice said in response. She reappeared, scales turning warm gold orange with spots of dark blue.

"You're alright." Clay said, relief in his voice.

"Of course I am. I would have been fine on my own, you know. But thank you for doing insanely dangerous things for me anyway."

"Anytime." Clay replied happily.

Sunny turned to Tsunami to ask how she was, but just then Starflight stumbled into the cave. At first she wondered why he was walking so lopsidedly, but then she saw that he was lugging an entire sack of scrolls that he'd begged them not to burn.

Tsunami held up a talon in his direction. "Oh no you don't." She bounded over and pulled it away from him. "You don't need these. And you've already read them all a thousand times. You keep telling us you could recite them all backwards if you wanted to."

"We might need them!" Starflight protested, pulling the bag 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 teach us all of those things." Clay pointed out. "You're going to anyway."

"But what if I forget something important?" he said, fretting. Tsunami started to tug the bag away and he reached for it.

"Hah. You'd be a lot more likable if you ever did forget anything." Glory said, flicking her tail at him to stop him from grabbing the bag again.

Tsunami stepped forwards holding her talons up. "The only thing that's important is getting out of here right now. Before Webs, Kestrel or Dune wake up."

"What thrilling news." A new voice said, coming from the cave opening. They all whipped around to see several angry SkyWings - none of them Kestrel. "Kestrel is part of this? I've been looking for her for an awfully long time." The voice was mocking, coming from the SkyWing in the centre. She looked bejeweled enough to be a queen. The Queen of the SkyWings?

Sunny shivered.

"I haven't seen Kestrel in, what, seven years?" the SkyWing said, pleasantly. Her eyes burned with hatred, and Sunny crouched, trying to hide from that gaze. "What a fun reunion this is going to be." the Queen traced the rock beneath her slowly, her tail lashing back and forth. "All of my least favorite dragons in one place."

Chapter 12

Clay spread his wings, and took a step back.

Sunny knew what he was doing, he was protecting them. He'd done this many times before when Kestrel got too mad. The queen tipped her head, studying him with her fierce eyes.

"You followed us here." Tsunami said in a strangled voice, her face tight.

Sunny half-turned to her in disbelief. She had so many questions.

"Oh I didn't have to." the SkyWing said pleasantly. "Someone sent up a lovely, helpful smoke signal for me. Led us all right here. What a brilliant idea."

Even from the angle she was at, Sunny could see Clay's expression change to fear.

"Who - Who are you?" Sunny cried, feeling a surge of bravery. She took a step forwards, and met the queen's withering gaze. Starflight blinked at her.

Sunny felt the tingling in her talons, her magic. Could she use it to help them get away?

But what could she do?

The queen scoffed. "Now really, this is getting insulting. 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?" the queen rose to her haunches, spreading her wings. Sunny cowered, her adrenaline and bravado fading.

"Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings." Starflight said, his eyes fixed on her. He went into a low bow.

Scarlet huffed, looking down her snout at him. "Now that's more like it." she strode into the cave, and Clay took another step back. "Three moons, it's gloomy in here."

Without so much as a second glance, she spat a tongue of flame at Starflight's scrolls, and set them alight instantly. Starflight's distraught face was outlined in the glow.

Clay edged closer to Glory and Sunny, and Sunny could see he was trying to shield them.

"My goodness. You're a NightWing!" the Queen said, squinting suddenly at Starflight, delight creeping into her expression. She flicked Clay out of the way, and grabbed Starflight by the chin. She looked dead into his eyes, and then studied the rest of him. "A NightWing not yet ten years old."

She did a full circle of him, prodding his scales and opening his wings to study the stars under his wings. He looked uncomfortable, but didn't say anything. "How thrilling!" she said, "They don't normally let their dragonets into the world. We might corrupt their superior perfection or something, you know." she breathed out a plume of smoke in 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?"

Sunny felt like she should stop this, use her magic, something. She felt her palms start to tingle, and an idea began to form in her head.

Before she could explore the idea, Dune appeared in the doorway. "What is going on here?" he said, and then his eyes turned to Queen Scarlet. His face became a mask of fear. "WEBS!" he screamed. "KESTREL!"

And then, in a blur he was turned and lunging at Scarlet. He grabbed her and shoved her off Starflight.

"Stop!" Sunny found herself screaming. "They'll hurt you!"

"Don't touch them." he roared at Scarlet, ignoring Sunny. "You'll never get your claws on them!"

The queen landed on her talons elegantly, wings spread out. A lick of flame escaped through her teeth as she grinned. "They're mine now." then, she lunged too, and Dune hissed, spreading his tattered wings.

Webs thundered into the cave, as motion exploded in the cave. Suddenly, everyone was moving. Sunny clung to the rocks beneath her, and a soldier ran past her.

She had to use her magic. She had to. Otherwise they would all die, or worse, be kept in prison for the rest of their days as a prisoner or a plaything... of Scarlet's.

"Stay back." Clay said to them, "And you should hide yourself, Glory."

"Disappear while you try to die for us again? No thanks." Glory said, and shoved past him to join Tsunami who had gone to assist Webs in fighting.

Clay suddenly grabbed Sunny, and placed her up on a boulder. "Wait!" Sunny cried. "I can help? Can't I?"

Clay ignored her, and turned to the turmoil.

This was it, Sunny realized. Everyone would die, unless she could stop it. Her eyes darted around the cave. Think, Sunny, think!

Her eyes fell on a stalactite that hung from the ceiling, just above where Scarlet stood. She couldn't... could she? Should she? It was a hefty piece of rock. If it landed correctly, it could definitely kill.

Scarlet clawed at Dune's injuries, opening them. He howled, and Scarlet said something in her gloating tone.

This was it. She had to do it now.

Sunny knew what she had to say. "I enchant the stalactite above Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings to fall on her, and crush her."

She wasn't sure if anyone heard her say it, but they all definitely heard the wrenching cracking of rock as the half-pillar broke off. The room fell to a deafening silence as the rock fell in slow-motion, right on top of Scarlet.

Chapter 13

Sunny felt cold to her bones. As it hit the queen, it made a crunching, terrible noise. Scarlet shrieked and vanished from sight.

Had she meant to do that? Why did she do that? She could have stopped the fighting, why did she kill someone?

Her heart fluttered as she took calming breaths, but nothing could calm her down. Everyone was frozen in motion. The soldiers were the first to move, and then Dune, who scrambled away, bleeding heavily.

I can heal him... Sunny thought, feeling numb.

Then, her eyes met Glory's. Glory's expression was a mixture of "you did that" and "did you do that?" Sunny looked away, not wanting to see those eyes anymore.

Was Scarlet even still alive? Did she get her?

As the hunk of stone was heaved off, Scarlet stood up warily.

Sunny felt relief, but terror course through her veins. What was going to happen now?

She watched in silent horror as she began to notice the extent of the damage. One of the queen's wings was slightly torn and her back leg was twisted and obviously broken. It must have been trapped under her as the stalactite fell. There weren't any visible scratches or cuts in her scales, but Sunny could imagine a lot of the damage was internal. But to her half-relief, it didn't appear to have been a fatal damage as the stalactite had landed on Scarlet's left side - her right side appeared unharmed. She shuddered.

As the queen glared around the cave, a small trickle of blood seeped between her teeth. "WHO DID THAT?" she screamed, and then fell into a fit of coughing that clawed at dusty lungs in a gut-wrenching kind of way.

Sunny felt horrified. She felt faint and sick and she couldn't stop staring as blood splattered onto the floor as the queen hacked and spat. Two of the SkyWing soldiers ran to her side, after having been frozen in shock. They picked her up, supporting under her wings, and nodded at the other three. The three soldiers that had been nodded to took off, and flew out of the cave.

They're probably off to get backup... Sunny realised with a sinking feeling.

Tsunami had recovered from the silent shock, and lunged at the queen. She was met with a hissing spurt of flame that seared over her head, and she skidded to a stop, her tail lashing.

Clay sidled up to her, and whispered something. She whispered something back and Starflight nodded. Sunny looked around, searching for Glory, who was stood in a corner. Her eyes were looking at some point past Sunny's shoulder, so she turned around.

Kestrel stood in the archway, smoke gently drifting from her nostrils. She looked so calm. "Scarlet." she hissed.

"If it isn't Kestrel." Scarlet countered, grinning through red-stained teeth. She stood lopsided, the guards supporting her wings and legs that shook, just a little bit. "You've been missing for a long time, it's good to finally see you again. I've been planning your trial for so long. We wouldn't want all that preparation that to be put to waste."

"I don't intend on coming with you." Kestrel said, tipping her head.

"That's a shame." the queen said mockingly. "I'm sure the reinforcements coming will disagree with you."

Clay looked over at Sunny and met her gaze. He looked over at the exit, and she followed his gaze. Is he telling me I should escape?

Webs had joined Kestrel's side, even though he looked unsure and not very confident. Dune was lying on his side behind Scarlet and the fallen stalactite. He looked unconscious, but his chest heaved with slow shaky breaths.

I can heal him... Sunny thought, her heart twisting. I can't just leave him like that...

Her talons tingled in response, and she lifted up a rock, whispering as softly as she possibly could: "I enchant this rock to heal all of Dune's injuries."

Dune's wounds closed up, and he twitched. Then, to Sunny's surprise, his missing claws and wing grew back too. All of the injuries across his entire body healed, and grew back. He looked so smooth now, and so much younger than he had done before, at least from what she could see. He sat up in slow confusion, but thankfully, nobody had seen this sudden change. The terror still pounded in her chest

Tsunami was edging towards the cave entrance, and suddenly she charged for it. Clay followed, and in a flurry of wings, Glory and Starflight were gone. Blinking in surprise, Sunny realized she had to go as well. Her muscles surged into action, and she bolted for the exit, throwing herself up and out of the cave.

The outraged cries of the guardians faded away as the outside world rose around her.

And for a moment she forgot about everything, and it was magnificent.

Chapter 14

Air. Fresh air.

She breathed it all in, and savoured the sensation. It smelled of so many things, sort of like the smells of the night and trees that she'd caught from the sky hole when she flew up there to try and get a glimpse of outside, but less muted. The sky was so much larger than she'd imagined, and clouds were huge.

The wind tugged at her from all directions, and it wasn't at all what she'd imagined. She thought it would be gentler, but this felt like being pushed by flowing walls of rock. It didn't hurt so much, but it was still solid.

For the first time, she looked behind her.

Kestrel was there, beating her wings to catch up to them. She was so close, Sunny could see her furious expression.

"Guys!" she yelled at the other dragonets, and she tried to catch up to them, but she wasn't strong enough. "Kestrel's coming!"

Kestrel soared over her head, and Sunny felt her claws grasp for the tips of her wings, but they didn't latch on. The whoosh of air caused by the massive dragon's wings caused her to nearly flip over. She whirled around, struggling to regain her balance. She saw the rest of the dragonets caught in conflict, either with the wind or Kestrel.

Glory's scales were flickering, and then she vanished. Kestrel whipped around for another target after her talons closed on empty air. What's she hoping to achieve? Surely she can't get all of us back to the cave? Even if one of us gets taken with her the rest of us will still be free and out here. Sunny really hoped it didn't happen. And if she does catch us... then this will all be for nothing.

Her mind went to her magic as a solution again, and she felt a stab of despair and anger at herself. She couldn't use her magic again... She couldn't. She'd done enough damage thinking she was using it right. But she wasn't careful enough, not smart enough.

Tsunami was attacking Kestrel, but the SkyWing was fighting back bitterly.

Sunny looked over to see Clay glancing around in panic, and then saw an idea split across his face. He beat his wings to gain altitude, angled directly at Kestrel. He sped towards her, and rammed into her side. She let go of Tsunami, and Clay turned around, yelling something like "Dive!". Tsunami dived down towards the canopy of the fir trees. Clay did the same, and Starflight fretted, looking down after them.

Sunny didn't have to be asked twice. This was a smarter idea than using her magic. She would take any opportunity to not use it.

As she plummeted, the trees whooshed up towards her, and she felt momentarily ill.

Kestrel vanished from view, and Sunny flew under the trees. She'd lost sight of the other dragonets and panic was starting to take hold. She only hoped they got away safe too.

Sunny beat her wings until she was sure she couldn't hear any other dragon, let alone Kestrel.

Her wings were really beginning to hurt and she angled down, stumbling to the floor. Her landing was more awkward than she wanted, and she nearly flipped completely over. Panting, she got to her feet, and then looked around for the first time.

There was so many colours. And they were everywhere.

She stood in astonished silence, as the lush jade green leaves rustled in the wind, which was less strong here than it had been in the sky. She went over to one of the trunks and ran her claws along the textured wood. The only wood she'd ever seen was what the scroll racks were made of, and that was nowhere near as earthy and cool. The leaves that sprung out from each branch were just as amazing and brilliant as she'd imagined them, and even more green. She wrapped both arms around it, taking deep breaths.

"Treehugger." came Glory's amused voice from somewhere above Sunny. She looked up, slightly embarrassed, to see nothing.

Glory materialized, grinning broadly. She stood on a large branch that overlooked the small clearing Sunny had landed in. "Are you alright?" Sunny asked.

"Not too bad." Glory shrugged, but looking at her closely, Sunny could see a long thin scratch along her flank. Glory caught her looking at it, and admitted, "Kestrel got me with one of her claws as I tried to dive down. She couldn't see me, though, so this is actually one of the few injuries she's ever given me that was accidental. What about you? You look pretty tired."

Sunny grimaced. "I'm not used to flying." Suddenly, their situation came back to her like an avalanche of rocks... or a giant stalactite... "Have you seen the others?" she asked, urgently. "Do you know where they went?"

"No... I only saw Clay heading for a river. I'm assuming Tsunami went over in that direction too, but I'm not too sure. I have no idea where Starflight went-"

"I'm here," a small muffled voice said from somewhere in the bushes. A second later, they rustled and a small black dragon emerged from the thicket. He was covered in tiny scratches.

"What happened to you?" Glory asked.

"I panicked and jumped into a bush when I heard someone fly overhead. It was a blackberry bush." He winced, spreading his wings uncomfortably.

"Ouch." Sunny said, shuddering in sympathy.

Starflight held up one of his talons and pulled a small splinter from it. He flicked it away, grimacing.

"Do you know where Tsunami went?" Glory asked him.

He shrugged, looking slightly defensive. "I don't know! I was busy hiding."

Suddenly, the canopy exploded with noise. Glory vanished almost instantly. Sunny's heart leapt into a racing frenzy, and she covered her head with her wings. Any thought of using her magic at all was shoved aside - she wouldn't have control now and it was too risky.

The figure fell screaming non-stop as they fell through the branches, hitting a few and whenever they did, the screaming would cut off, before resuming as they slid off and fell again.

They landed just to the right of Sunny, and she jumped away. Starflight poked his head out from a (non-thorny) bush and gasped in surprise. "Tsunami?"

Sunny looked again, and finally registered the dragon's color: blue. It was Tsunami. "Tsunami!" she yelled, and bounded over to hug her.

"Ow.. Ow, stop." Tsunami said, shoving her away, shaking out her wrists and flexing her webbed talons awkwardly. "Those branches were solid. I'd rather not get squeezed to death."

Now Sunny could see that Tsunami looked pretty badly hurt. Not too severely, it didn't seem like anything was broken, but she looked sore, bruised and slightly miserable. Every now and then her gills fluttered.

"Are you ok?" Sunny said, taking a step back. "Do you know where Clay is?"

Tsunami looked slightly uncomfortable, and shifted uneasily. "He went to a river and Kestrel followed him there - she couldn't catch the rest of us so she went for him, he's pretty tired even though he won't say." she grimaced awkwardly. "Last I saw before I went to find you guys he was hiding in it."

"What?" Starflight said, getting out of the bush. "Is he hurt?"

"No... not yet. But she's waiting for him to resurface. I don't think he got a proper breath before he dived down." Tsunami said, tightening her claws around a tuft of grass and pulling it up.

"Then we have to go and rescue him?" Sunny said. "Right? We can't just leave him there. We have to go and save him!"

Chapter 15

They ran, Tsunami taking the lead. The only sound Sunny could hear was their talons thumping on the dirt, and her own heart.

Ducking under branches that swung at her, she struggled to keep up. The others ran so fast, faster than she could. Her necklace banged against her chest and a few times she worried it would get pulled off or caught in the branches. As she leapt over yet another fallen tree trunk she wondered just how much noise they were making.

The branches overhead thrashed as birds flew away, startled by the movement. She could see glimpses of sky through the canopy, but she didn't look up for long as obstacles kept coming her way.

Eventually, when she thought her throat would collapse from the exertion, they appeared on a cliff edge overlooking a winding river that split in two by a large tree. A little bit away from the bottom of the cliff they stood at, a red dragon was pacing. She kept glancing into the water, and hissing fire every now and then.

"There she is!" Tsunami growled. "Let's go kill her for what she's done to us."

"Wh- We're not actually going to kill her... right?" Sunny stammered, thinking that was a bit extreme.

Tsunami snorted, but Starflight glanced over at Sunny. "If it comes to it, then we may have to. But I say we should at least try to avoid violence for now. We can get Clay back without any bloodshed."

"Of course you'd say that. You've never liked fighting." Tsunami said, looking down at him. "But I'd be glad to."

Glory looked uncertain for a moment, then turned to Sunny and Starflight. "She did want to kill me, remember that. I'll try to avoid attacking her, but whatever happens, happens, and we can't control that."

Sunny glanced over to see Kestrel trying to reach into the water. Her talon shot back up out of the water, and she shook it as if it hurt. Sunny guessed Clay must have bitten it or something like that. Or maybe Kestrel just cut it on a sharp rock.

"Let's gooooooooo." Tsunami complained. And without another word, she leapt off the cliff, spreading her wings. Starflight and Glory looked at each other, then followed, Glory brushing past Sunny. Sunny stood on the edge of the cliff, worry and fear spreading through her scales. They had to get Clay but she didn't want anyone to get hurt... not even Kestrel...

Kestrel was one of the dragons who had taken care of them. Even though she hated them and had wanted to kill Glory... she was only following orders, wasn't she? But then... from what Clay had recounted, she seemed very glad to kill her. What bothered Sunny the most was, if Glory was so useless to the prophecy, then why wasn't she taken care of earlier? The moment she thought that, she realized how happy she was that that hadn't happened. They were in a better position to be safe now.

As if to immediately contradict that thought, there was a shriek of pain from the riverbank. Sunny's head shot up to see Glory pinned under one of Kestrel's talons. Her heart began to pound with adrenaline, and she tensed. Tsunami was attacking Kestrel too, but Sunny could see Glory couldn't breathe. The RainWing's struggles were getting weaker and weaker, and her scales flickered with sickening white and red and green.

Tsunami was sent sprawling into the water after Kestrel blasted a bolt of fire at her face.

Glory was hardly moving now, and Sunny knew she had to do something. But what? What could she do? What could she enchant?

Suddenly, the water exploded, and there was a blur of motion. Kestrel squawked in alarm, releasing her grip on Glory. Glory sat up, color returning to her scales, a talon on her throat as if in disbelief that she could breathe again. Sunny saw now that Clay was the one attacking Kestrel, and the one who had saved Glory. Tsunami had recovered, and was up, slashing at Kestrel's neck.

Suddenly, Sunny heard a rustle from the bushes behind her. She turned to see, but there was nothing there. As she glanced back at the battle going on below her, she was aware of the ground trembling ever-so-slightly. Strange... she thought. I should probably go and help-"

A splintering pain exploded at the back of her head, and her vision faltered. She felt herself falling to the floor, stars spinning before her eyes, and the last thing she saw was orange and red talons stamping past her face. Her vision went black, and she knew nothing more.

Part 2

Chapter 16

Sunny woke, and the first thing she noticed was that she had a pounding headache. Her eyes were blurry, but her ears picked up dragon voices. It sounded like a lot, and they weren't in a cave, as she heard no echo. She heard faint rustling which she recognized as the wind going through trees.

Some distance above her, she heard a high pitched creaking, like metal grinding against metal. She realized that whatever surface she lay on was swinging slightly, and it felt cold to the touch.

Her eyes finally came into focus, and she took in everything around her in a new growing disbelief and fear.

She was in some sort of cage, woven from gold bars each twice as thick as one of her claws. It hung from a stone arch, where golden chains were wrapped around the structure that supported the prison she was kept in. As she looked beyond the bars, she saw a royal red and gold carpet that stretched out below her, and large wooden tables that sported similar colour schemes. Golden talonprints were dotted all across the walls and floor. There were lots of SkyWings sorting out things, moving objects that appeared to be plates and bowls, almost as though there was going to be a massive feast later on. She caught herself thinking of Clay, and how excited he would probably be for a feast like this. Although, they were probably not invited, because if Sunny was trapped in a cage, then the other dragonets would likely be locked up in something similar.

She looked up now, at the rest of her surroundings. Her eyes fell to a huge window - so huge any dragon could comfortably fly through it, she realized - and saw a giant arena, surrounded by tall, uniform pillars of rock that were each connected to one another with thin wires. Each pillar had a small blob of color on top, and as she looked closer she saw that they were dragons. She couldn't even see most of the arena, as it was relatively close and HOW WAS IT SO MASSIVE?

Suddenly, she spotted a small white-grey tree, standing on its own in the middle of a balcony that overlooked the wide sands of the arena. Resting on it was a dragon so colourful, she almost didn't recognize it as a dragon at first. But then she saw who it was, and gasped. It's Glory!

She'd never seen anything so spectacularly brilliant in her entire life. The hues and shades melted together, rippling in sprays of gold and so so many types of purple, before being replaced with stunning sapphires and emeralds that looked like leaves dappled in sunshine. Glory looked asleep, her wings half-folded and lying neatly by her sides. She looked so peaceful.

Her eyes went back to the stone pillars, although she did keep glancing back at the tree. Were the other dragonets trapped on the pillars? Or were they being kept in dungeons, trapped under another mountain?

She spotted a black dragon, and her eyes went wide. STARFLIGHT??

Blinking and rubbing her eyes, she looked again. Yep, that was Starflight. His terrified don't-notice-me-i'm-just-a-piece-of-rock way of huddling under his wings. That made her wonder- where were the others?

As she squinted at the other towers, she became aware of a conversation happening below where her cage hung.

"-Bit of a scrawny dragon if I'm honest. Never seen anything like it. Burn will definitely like it." A red SkyWing guard chuckled, tipping his head in an amused manner at the SandWing that stood next to him.

"She didn't give us any fuss. When we went to capture her she got knocked out pretty quickly, and without a fight. Unlike the SeaWing. What did you do about Kestrel?" the SandWing responded, shrugging. Sunny spotted a bite mark on one of his back legs, and it looked relatively fresh as well. That was most likely from Tsunami.

"Oh, her. Yeah she wasn't too difficult to get under control, just had to wrap a few chains around her snout and limbs and hoist her up. You know. They were severely outnumbered after all. Is the Queen ok?"

"How should I know? You're better off asking the medics who tend to her. She's getting better, but it'll be a while before she can stand on her own feet again, or fly. We're giving her the best treatments we can, and luckily there's less damage than we initially thought. It's a miracle how her spine didn't break - otherwise she'd be completely paralyzed." The SandWing grimaced, "But I hear Queen Burn's coming later today. She'll be able to take over ruling the Sky Kingdom should it be absolutely necessary."

The SkyWing fiddled with his claws. "Eh. You know how I feel about being ruled over by a dragon of a different tribe. It doesn't fit right with me."

"But it's better to have a Queen from a different tribe than no Queen at all, yes?" the SandWing responded casually. "Get back to your post now, Tangelo."

"Hmmph," Tangelo said, and then turned to Sunny's cage. In surprise, Sunny started back. He looked up at her, somewhat surprised as well, and then his face hardened. "You're awake."

Sunny couldn't find her voice. She shrank back, pulling her wings over to half-cover her head. The SandWing that Tangelo had been talking to simply chuckled and then walked off.

Tangelo looked her dead in the eyes, then scoffed, creating a plume of smoke. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a shout from the kitchen. One of the kitchen staff ran out, and said to the general crowd of servants. "The Queen's monster is coming!"

Immediately, the dragons jumped into action. Some ran away and hid, and Sunny squinted at the door the kitchen staff was pointing at.

As the dragons below her ran around frantically to get things tucked away - she noticed that it was tablecloths and carpets but no cutlery or goblets - a dragon strolled in.

Sunny guessed this was the 'Queen's monster', but the dragon looked like a normal SkyWing. Well apart from the fact that her scales were a more vibrant shimmering orange than she'd seen on any other SkyWing... but now that Sunny looked closely, the scales definitely looked a bit too vibrant. And then she saw the smoke rising from them. The dragon's eyes were a chilling unnatural blue, that darted around at the terrified staff. Then, those eyes went up to Sunny.

Sunny pressed herself up against the opposite side of the cage, which wasn't difficult, as the cage was tiny. What was wrong with this dragon? Were her scales made of fire? Why were they smoking like that? The dragon took a step forwards and Sunny saw the smouldering talonprint she left on the carpet. It burst into flame, and a cook ran out with a bucket of water to douse the fire.

The dragon stared at him with no emotion in her eyes, and then turned and left.

Sunny stared after her, in disbelief.

And I think I'm dangerous... That is someone who could definitely kill so easily if she wanted to. She shivered.

Chapter 17

It was late in the day when she was first properly spoken to by anyone.

She'd been watching the dragons below sorting out the banquet, and feeling very hungry at the sights and smells of the soup, the bread, the rich meats and the exotic fruit. She'd heard talk of Burn, who would arrive the next day, but this banquet was to celebrate the capture of some Talons of Peace (which was probably Kestrel, Dune or Webs. She wasn't sure if Dune or Webs were here, but it was easy to assume Kestrel was) and the dragonets of destiny.

As she was counting the rocks in the wall for what felt like the tenth time, she became aware of a faint wall of heat that spread across her tail that was dangling out from between the bars of her cage. She looked down to see the dragon from before, the one that was referred to as 'the Queen's monster'.

The weird SkyWing looked up at Sunny and met her eyes. "Hello." Sunny said, trying not to squeak. She figured she may as well try to talk as it appeared this encounter was going to be awkward without conversation.

"Hmmph." the dragon said, looking up.

"I saw what you did earlier. That was cool. The way you, uh- burned the carpet. I wish I could instil fear in other dragons the way you did... I'm Sunny - what's your name?" she continued, a little put out, trying to find out the dragon's name - if she had a name - so Sunny could stop calling her 'the monster' in her head.

"I'm Peril," the SkyWing responded. "And I'm not supposed to talk to you."

"Oh, come on... just a little chat? Please? I'm really lonely." Sunny said, honestly shocked by her own bravery. "Do you know if my friends are ok?"

"Rrrgh," Peril growled, and then looked around. The banquet hall had been relatively empty, since everything had been set up. Sunny presumed that it would start soon. Peril spoke again, "Fine. Just a little bit. But I have places to be. I'm not supposed to be here when the Queen arrives. She doesn't want me near her guests."

"What guests? Doesn't Burn come tomorrow?" Sunny asked.

"Pfft. It's some SkyWing aristocrats, and they're always so boring. I'm glad I'm not allowed to be here anyway."

She said it so nonchalantly Sunny found herself laughing. She thought she saw a small glimmer of amusement on the SkyWing's face, but it vanished quickly, so she wasn't sure if she imagined it or not.

Peril made a harsh shushing noise and Sunny stopped. "Sorry." she said.

The SkyWing hmmed, and then frowned. "Did you say you had friends here?"

"Oh! Yes. Do you know if they're ok?" Sunny said eagerly, hoping Peril could tell her.

"No. I don't know who they are. Her Majesty gets lots of prisoners in from the war. But you don't look like you've been fighting." Peril said, skewering Sunny with her gaze.

Sunny shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable. "I'm one of the dragonets of destiny - one of the dragons who is meant to stop the war. My friends are the others, there's a MudWing - he's Clay - and a SeaWing - she's Tsunami - and-"

Peril held up both her talons. "I didn't ask. Besides, Her Majesty likes the war. It gives her plenty of dragons for her arena, and I like fighting them. What use would I be anyway, without the war?"

Sunny felt cold talons crawling down her back. "I- I- don't know, I was just wondering if you could tell me if my friends were ok..."

"The MudWing's fine actually. I spoke to him earlier, although he did have a hard time adjusting to his new life as a prisoner." Peril said, a tiny bit too cheerfully for Sunny's liking. "I couldn't get to the SeaWing, she refused to talk. Same with the NightWing, actually. Aren't there meant to be five of you? I'm sure I would've heard something if Her Majesty was speaking to the SkyWing dragonet of destiny."

"Actually..." Sunny said. "We've got Glory instead." she nodded at Glory's tree.

"OH, yes, of course. Clay talked about her." Peril said casually.

Suddenly there was a shout from down the corridors. "PERIL! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Peril's ears dropped at this, though her expression didn't change. "I have to go. Her Majesty wants me."

"Oh. Ok..." Sunny said. As unsettling as that conversation had been, it had been nice to finally talk to someone. "Talk again later?"

The only response was: "We'll have to see." as Peril charged out of the room, leaving charred talonprints on the stone.

Sunny watched her go.

Chapter 18

The mountains were cold, and shrouded in fog.

She took careful steps as light misty rain began to fall. There were puddles scattered around, made swampy by the mud that collected in pits that could swallow a dragon whole and leave no evidence. The grass was coated in a thin layer of dew, that sparkled in a strangely dull way.

Every now and then, a lone bird screeched overhead. A small stone skittered to a stop and landed by her feet and she stopped, before picking it up. It crumbled to dust in her talons and she stared at where it had rested.

She kept walking, a little faster than before. The wind had started to pick up, and she pulled her wings closer around herself. The chill bit at her wingtips and she wondered how much further she would have to walk till she got there.

Wait... where was she even going? She turned back to retrace her steps but the pathway had vanished, and in front of her now there was only a giant abyss that led to darkness. The only way is forwards, I guess.

Turning around again, she went to continue the path she'd been going, only to find that had vanished too and the pit now encircled her. She realized she was trapped on a pillar of rock with no escape. Fly! she shouted at herself, but as she spread her wings she saw in horror that black tar coated them and was eating away at the membranes. Soon, her wings were reduced to stumps and the wind howled around her, deafening her.

The pillar swayed and she felt sick, but then remembered: she had magic, didn't she? But what would she do?

Suddenly, a creature lunged at her from the abyss. She started back and the pillar leaned dangerously to one side. The creature climbed up, its wings dripping with the same black tar that had coated her own.

Its mouth was melted into an awful grin, and she shuddered, before seeing brown scales beneath the tar. CLAY? her mind screamed, and, now that she looked closely it was definitely her friend, though his eyes were empty and hollow. Another shudder hit the rock column, and she turned around. It was Starflight now, whose jaws stretched wide in her direction, and she saw traces of fire flickering from the depths of his throat. Both of the creatures climbing up onto her platform were melting, their claws wobbling like a mirage, but they were so so real.

A blue talon shot out from the depths too, and she looked away before the dragon emerged, knowing full well it was Tsunami. Why were her friends doing this? Were they even her friends? What was going on?

The creatures got closer and closer, and she could hear them breathing, hissing through their teeth which were too long, too sharp.

Magic rushed through her veins and exploded from every inch of her scales. She covered her head, curling into the tightest ball she could, and screamed.

Sunny woke, covered in sweat, claws tingling.

She found she was curled up, in a similar position to how she had just been in the nightmare. She was met with cool night air - it was a gentle breeze that wafted over her feverish limbs, instead of a harsh cold wind that she could swear she'd actually felt.

She rubbed her forehead and then her eyes which were slightly wet as if she'd been crying.

"That must've been some dream." came a slightly familiar voice from somewhere below her cage.

Sunny looked down to see Peril sat there. She had her tail coiled around her talons and wings tucked in on either side.

"You were watching me sleep?" Sunny asked, a little bit wary. How long had she been there?

"Not really. I was just passing through to my room, and I heard someone speaking, so I popped my head in. It was you, talking in your sleep. You know, I've never seen other dragons sleep." Peril said matter-of-factly.

"Oh... well that's... reassuring, I guess?" Sunny said.

"Her Majesty doesn't keep a very close eye on me at night when she's sleeping. Also, the guards she put outside my room are dead to the world. Not literally, though," Peril said, looking almost disappointed when she said that last part. "But eh, she'd punish me severely if I did that, so I suppose that's a good thing. What did you dream about? Sorry if I'm asking too many questions."

"Oh no, it's ok. The only other dragons I've had to talk to are the guards and some of them can be really grumpy." Sunny said. "Also, how can Scarlet punish you? Aren't you made of fire or something?"

Peril suddenly looked uncomfortable, "You'd want to call her Queen Scarlet or Her Majesty, unless you want to get killed. But then, you're a gift for Burn, so I doubt you'd get punished too badly as you're doomed to die anyway. But yes, she can punish me."

"I'm a gift for Burn?" Sunny couldn't believe her ears. Her heart began to race. Oh no, oh no. "Is she coming tomorrow?"

"She's coming today. We're about two hours from sunrise."

"No, no, no, no!" Sunny cried. She banged her front talons against the cage in frustration. Peril looked surprised, but not at all taken aback like most dragons would by an outburst like this. "Can you please get me out of here? I don't want to be... whatever Burn wants to do to me."

"I'm sorry," Peril responded, but her tone of voice didn't reveal much regret. "I don't want to upset her Majesty. I also don't want you to escape, it would cause chaos, and Queen Scarlet doesn't like that, especially as it's her hatching day soon. It's just not possible." she shook her head. "Besides, you seem ok to talk to I guess, and Burn won't have you the moment she arrives. You can spend a few more days here. I have to be going now."

With that, Peril nodded her head once and walked off.

"It's nice talking to you too?" Sunny said quietly, after Peril's footsteps had faded.

Chapter 19

She lay there until sunrise, thinking. Her mind was still fogged from the nightmare, but it was gradually clearing. Every now and then, a guard would stand under her cage to make sure she didn't escape, but they can't have been too worried about her escaping because most of the time she was alone. Still, whenever there was a guard, she would attempt to make conversation and chat casually to them. Or, as casually as she could.

There were only four or five that spoke to her that morning, and it helped her get an idea of what was going on in the palace and arena. She didn't see Peril again that day, but that was ok, she must be busy doing something for Queen Scarlet. She glanced down to see Tangelo there, or at least she thought it was. She couldn't really tell as her cage was almost constantly swinging a little bit, which used to make her dizzy but now she'd gotten used to it she felt the rhythm was soothing.

"Hey." she called down. The SkyWing looked up and she saw that yes, it was Tangelo. "Sorry to disturb you, but could I please have another fried lizard?"

"Sure." he shrugged and put down his spear. Wow. Sunny thought. He really isn't that bothered about keeping me here. What if I escaped? Right now? As he went to leave to the kitchens, she spotted something behind one of his ears and was about to comment on it when something made her stop. She saw it was a ruff of some sort - but SkyWings didn't have ruffs, right? That was the sort of thing you'd see on RainWings and- oh...

She gripped the bars. Could he be a hybrid? She just had to ask him.

As she sat there, waiting, she heard a huge roar from the direction of the arena. It was a crowd roar, and she wondered what was going on. Glancing where Tangelo had left, she figured she could maybe cause a distraction for him, and then just maybe have a little peek at what was going on? Although... wasn't the arena for killing dragons? Were dragons dying there? She wasn't sure if she wanted to see that...

She had to check if it was any of her friends fighting. Could she keep them safe with her magic?

No. She promised herself she wouldn't use magic.

But what if one of her friends really was in danger? And she was the only one who could protect them?

RRGH. FINE, she thought. Anything to get rid of the doubt. What do I enchant?

She looked around, and then remembered she was still wearing her necklace. No, she couldn't enchant that. What if a new spell undid the original one? But then... wouldn't the casting of the spell that hid her magic from mind readers have turned the necklace back into a pebble?

She lifted up the bones from one of the lizards she'd eaten before. These could do.

"I enchant these bones to turn into something that will distract Tangelo long enough to allow me to get back to the cage." she whispered, and the bones twitched into action. They floated between the bars of the cage and in a poof, turned into a small feathery bird that quickly vanished in the direction of the kitchen. As she watched it leave, she hoped Tangelo wouldn't mistake it as something actually edible. That would make her feel more guilty than she really wanted to admit.

Now was her chance. She could enchant the necklace, which she would prefer, or grab something like a rock or a stick. She didn't see anything like that that she could reach, so necklace it was.

But how would she phrase this? But wait... what if this didn't have to be a one-time enchantment. After all, what if she needed it later? She didn't want to have to cast more spells than she needed to, especially if her soul was at risk.

"I enchant this necklace to.. uh.. make me invisible to all dragons whenever I say... 'hide me', and make me visible again when I say..." she paused, "...'reveal me'."

She glanced down at it, and it seemed like nothing had happened. "Open." she whispered to the door on her cage, and it swung open silently. She shut it behind her, and it clicked. Dropping to the floor, she whispered. "Hide me." Immediately, her talons vanished, and she nearly fell forward in surprise. Oh yeah... 'all dragons' includes me.

There was another roar from the crowd, and Sunny looked up. She took careful paces towards the noise as it died down again, and then ran full pelt down the corridor. She kept tripping over rocks and her own talons as she couldn't see where she was putting her feet, but thanks to years spent avoiding the guardians, she was good at running quietly.

Eventually, she ran into a room. And then, she realized it wasn't really a room. It was a balcony, that overlooked a massive circle of sand, bordered by giant walls that loomed up over it, with fathomless amounts of dragons all turned towards the sand circle. At the edges of the seating area, she saw the rock columns that studded the outskirts and looked up to see they were the same as what she'd seen from her cage.

She was standing on Queen Scarlet's balcony, (realising that it was with Scarlet still on it) and saw she'd run out near where Glory's tree stood.

Clamping her jaws shut, she realized if she so much as breathed too loudly, one of the countless SkyWing guards that were posted around here would pick up on it. It was difficult to breathe calmly and quietly, considering she'd just been running, but as the aching in her lungs eased she began to take in more of what she saw.

Just then, Scarlet called out, spreading her arms out: "All right, dragons. Fjord and Clay, we don't have all day. Some of us have kingdoms to run. One of you kill the other one right now or I'm coming down there to end you both right now."

Sunny gasped, and then clamped her talons over her snout. CLAY? her brain squeaked. Oh no, he's in danger... I have to save him - but how? And then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Glory's ear twitch. It was pricked up, and turned in her direction. Did she just hear that? Maybe I can talk to her and see if she's alright.

"Glory?" she tried, whispering as quietly as she could. "Glory, don't react. It's me."

Glory's scales shifted. Sunny could see the battle going on clearly from where she was and Clay could be in serious danger. Just then, a spray of frostbreath blasted towards the lower rows of seating that were reserved for spectators. There was a general scramble to get out of the way, and Sunny turned back to Glory. He might actually kill that IceWing... how's he fighting so well? He's always been so gentle - but maybe this is what the arena does to dragons...

"Sunny?" Glory whispered back, making minimal movement. "Are you alright?"

Her tone was concerned, but none of that was visible on her scales or demeanour. She looked just as relaxed and sleepy as before Sunny had attracted her attention.

"I'm ok, but what about you? You look so sleepy - have they drugged you? Are you feeling dazed at all?" Sunny responded under her breath.

"Psshh, no. This is called acting." Another spray of colour flickered and swirled across Glory's scales, which looked like polished gemstones under the sun. Sunny recognized these colours as... amusement? "How did you escape? Oh wait, the almighty animus can do anything. Got it," she continued, jokingly.

"They're keeping me in a cage as a gift for Burn. Apparently she's coming today to collect me." Sunny whispered.

A startling flash of green came across her scales. "They said that about me, too. But I think Scarlet likes my scales too much, so she's going to keep me as her art forever."

A roar of pain from the arena sands caused them both to flinch and look down. Clay was pinned down under the IceWing's claws, which were digging into his throat. He was struggling, but unable to get out.

This was it, she had to use her magic to save him. This was why she'd been given it, right? To save her friends. But could she kill another dragon? After all, she wasn't able to kill Scarlet, and although she still looked rather lopsided from the injuries, she was still maintaining the confident posture Sunny had seen when she first turned up at the cave.

She was snatched out of her doubts by a yell from the prisoners' columns. She looked up to see Tsunami, frantically clawing at the wires that bound her in place. The other prisoners around her were complaining loudly, struggling to stay on their platforms as the wires threatened to pull them down.

"Get up there!" Scarlet roared, and most of the SkyWing guards around her took off, ascending to deal with the commotion.

Terrified, Sunny looked back at Clay to see the IceWing attacking him was distracted. She could see emotions on Clay's face flickering, and then there was a blur of motion to her side. She blinked, and looked up to see Glory rear up, opening her mouth to bare sharp fangs. A jet of black liquid sprayed from the tips, and aimed directly at the IceWing.

Sunny stared at Glory, and it was as if Glory could feel her eyes on her, because she settled back down. She glanced at where Sunny was, and said, "We all have our secrets." With that, she closed her eyes and looked as though nothing had happened.

Sunny stared back at the dragons in the arena, and saw the IceWing wipe at the droplets of... whatever that was?... that had landed on his face and side. Suddenly, he started screaming and Sunny saw that where the liquid had struck, the IceWing's frosty white-blue scales were melting and sizzling. Her jaw opened in a silent gasp of pure horror, and she glanced back at Glory.

"Sunny, I know you're gawking. But please, leave or they'll find you," Glory whispered from the corner of her mouth, still looking as innocent as anything.

Sunny felt sick to her stomach and wanted to ask so many questions, but turned and slunk away, leaving the pandemonium behind her. She could still hear the cheers of the crowd as she entered the room with her cage and clambered into it. As she settled down and whispered "Reveal me.", she couldn't stop thinking of what had just happened. Was Glory really that dangerous? What has this place done to my friends? I hope Starflight doesn't... She was broken off by Tangelo entering the room.

"Sorry I ran off. There was this really interesting bird- Please don't tell her Majesty."

Chapter 20

Sunny sat there feeling miserable for the rest of the day. She heard no news of Burn arriving, but her mind was too caught up in what had happened to the IceWing - what Glory had done. Her mind was spinning, flicking between two sides: one, where she worried if her friends were alright and safe and unharmed, and the other, pure fear that her friends were lost and never returning to normal. It seemed like something Glory might do, but it sickened her to her stomach, and every time she heard the dragon's screams in her mind she shuddered.

Eventually the sun began to set, and so did her worries. As the cool air met her face, her mind began to clear. It didn't by much, but at least it allowed her to think straight for more than just a few seconds. And as she settled down, ready to finally get some sleep, she thought... What if I got my friends out? Like, out of the prisons? And we just flew away?

That was a good idea, but wouldn't they then know that she was an animus?

How was she even considering her secret over her friends? Of course she should tell them, just... when she had the courage and it was the right time to. And there wasn't the huge threat of death hanging over their heads.

She yawned. That was something she could dwell on tomorrow, as exhaustion was sweeping in like a blanket of calming fog. She tucked her head under one of her wings, and fell asleep almost instantly.

She was walking through the mountain passages again. The pit from last night was nowhere to be seen, and neither were the monsters.

A light misty rain began to fall, and she looked up to the darkening sky. There wasn't any colour to be seen in the landscape, like it had been leeched out of everything. Everything else was so monochromatic she almost sighed with relief when she looked down to see her golden scales, wet with the rain, but still a glistening gold like they usually were.

She kept walking, unsure of what was really going to happen next or what was going to happen next. Did she just have to wait for the bad things to happen?

A mixture of the blank grey tones of the scenery that was beginning to make her eyes hurt, and the fact she was getting kind of bored brought a proposal to her mind. What if she brought the colours back?

She held out one talon and said, "Bring the colours back, make them visible to me." she wasn't sure what she was enchanting, but sure enough, there was a bright burst of cold IceWing blue.

It leapt out of the palm of her talon, and spread through the sky, but the surroundings didn't change. Instead, the blue magic twisted in the air, turning a purple Sunny had never seen before. It forked like lightning, weaving cracks through the monochrome reality she stood in. What?

She took confused steps forwards, and as she put her talon down to the ground, the frosty blue light vanished, and only the purple remained, zigzagging through the air until it hit the floor. Then, everything froze. All movement from the strange light stopped.

Really curious now, she took even closer steps. Now, she was just the right distance where she could reach out and touch it if she wanted.

What is that? she thought. It looks like-

She was yanked out of her dream by a short, high noise.

Her head shot up and her heart began thumping in a quick rhythm, her talons gripping the floor.

What was that? she thought, rubbing at her eyes to clear away the sleep. And what even was the dream?

She couldn't remember much of it anymore, the details were fading as quickly as she tried to hold onto them.

And then, she heard that noise again. Chink.

Her ears flew up, listening out for anything, any sort of noise accompanying it that might tell her what was going on. She heard a faint dragging sound, of scales against stone. As she listened even more carefully, she heard the quietest of talonsteps. All of these noises were gradually getting closer. Scrrrrrrrape. Chink. Scrrrrratch. Chink.

She lay down and shut her eyes, suddenly aware of what might happen if the dragon - or dragons - discovered her, awake and watching the strange ordeal. Cracking open one of her eyes, she saw a shadow pass in front of the archway to the room her cage was in. It checked around, and then heaved on the chains it was carrying. Then, to Sunny's complete surprise, the dragon turned and headed towards her. She shut her eyes quickly, trying not to react.

As the dragon got closer and closer, she began to hear its breath, wheezing in and out. The chains kept going slack, then tight as they were tugged or caught on some rocks jutting out of the ground. Scrrrrrrrrrrrrrape. Chink. Scrrrrrrraaaape. Chink.

The dragon stopped, panting, and then half fell over, grabbing onto the side of a table.

Wow... Whoever that is really isn't used to exercise or dragging unknown objects across the floor with heavy chains. Sunny thought, and then her brain followed up with: Well, neither are you, probably.

Sunny looked down, and saw the dragon getting up again. She heard a muttered "Can't be late." and a heavy long-suffering sigh. Then, to her utter fear and surprise, the dragon suddenly snapped round and looked directly up at her, eyes blazing that brilliant purple that seared into the back of her skull.

Chapter 21

She woke with a start, panting heavily. Sleep blurred her eyes and it took her a moment to register where she really was, but then the familiar swing of the cage returned. She was awake now. Actually awake.

A dream in a dream? Was that even a dream? What's going on? Fear lingered in her mind, and she shivered.

The sky was a light blue, but the wind was chilling and there weren't many dragons around at the moment, so it must be early morning. She tilted her head to look up at the arena, and wondered what horrific festivities were going to be held today. Ones that involved her friends? What if Scarlet made them fight each other?

She shivered again, looking down to see who was guarding her cage now.

To her surprise, a grumpy red SkyWing she didn't recognize. The SkyWing gave her a quick glance, and sighed an exasperated plume of smoke. "I was hoping you'd stay asleep. The other guards say you talk a lot, and I'm in a bad mood so you better not be too chatty."

"Oh." Sunny said. "I don't think I talk too much."

The SkyWing huffed and turned away from her.

Sunny wanted to add that the guard was the one who had started the conversation, but she figured that would be rude and just make them more annoyed. Just then, she heard a loud rousing cheer from the crowd in the arena, and her ears shot up. A few of the chefs also looked up, but quickly went back to their business, as Sunny guessed it was pretty normal to hear this sort of noise.

She wondered who was fighting now, and sincerely hoped it wasn't any of her friends. She lay down, wondering if she could heroically burst out of the cage and sweep her friends to safety. And maybe finish the job I failed to do back in the cave...

She shoved that thought away, no. She'd learnt her lesson and how bad it had made her feel, despite how it lead to their current and dangerous predicament.

If only she could find a peaceful way of doing things, rather than violent bloodbaths that indicated she'd lost her sanity and was turning into some of the animus dragons from that old scroll Starflight had read to her when they were back in the underground cave and safe and naïve.

She spent the rest of the day thinking of ways to escape, or see what was going on that wouldn't involve killing or being discovered, or... doing other immoral things such as... wiping memories... blinding or deafening... the guards were only doing their jobs, weren't they? She couldn't harm them, the real enemy was Scarlet.

Whenever she thought of an idea, she fell short or kept coming back to the same thing. Dragons would get hurt. Or, she couldn't make it seem natural - for example, if she was going to make a clone or illusion of herself, how was she going to be sure that it would respond in the same way she would? Even if it was sleeping, what if someone tried to wake it up? She did consider making it act exactly how she would, but she'd have to enchant something and make herself invisible at the same time. She wasn't sure how many commands could fit into one spell and if it had a limit she really didn't want to find it out the hard way.

She came back to her senses from the haze of trying to figure things out a little while into the evening. The dining hall below her was teeming with dragons, brushing past each other with pots that bubbled over and plates and cutlery and goblets carved from the finest gold. Sunny had to do a double take, as she saw the vibrant colours splashed across the sky that indicated sunset was fast approaching.

Looking around, her eyes landed on a pair of SandWings talking to each other casually. They obviously hadn't been told to do anything, as they looked relaxed and casual. She could just make out what they were saying, and it chilled her to her core.

Burn had arrived at the SkyWing Palace.

Chapter 22

She froze, talons half up to her face. Her brain began to tick into racing circles. She can't be here to collect me already? I can stop her from getting to me right?

If she's visiting one of her allies, surely she'd stay for longer than just a simple collection and go, like Peril said. Surely I have more time?

If there was any moment she could use her magic, it was now. But her worries still nagged at her mind. They'll all know. You'll be found out and have to hide.

But what if I don't? she shouted back at herself. What if I erase my escape from their memory?

That's wrong, though. the other part of her argued. It's not morally right. You can't just do that.

So I'll find a subtle way. You can't keep shutting me down. she thought desperately. I'll most likely die if this doesn't happen.

There were more arguments, but she ignored them. She had to do something, and whether it required extreme lengths, she'd have to do it. Her mind shied away from the idea of killing dragons... but if it came to it she'd have to think more about it.

She'd done enough stalling.

"Cage door, open." she commanded. It swung open, and the guard below her looked up in surprise.

"What the-" they said, eyes widening. "No-"

Sunny leapt out of the cage, and said "Hide me."

She vanished instantly, and dodged out of the way as the guard lunged for where she had been. "GET BACK HERE ANIMUS!" they roared.

"Enchant everyone in this room and any dragons who heard anything about this to forget what just happened. Replace this memory with a memory of me filing through the lock with my claws and running away in the opposite direction to the arena." she said, voice shaking, her veins pulsing with adrenaline, hoping hoping hoping she'd phrased it correctly so there were no bad side-effects to it.

The guard frowned in confusion, and then snapped their head up to the doorway that Sunny had supposedly run through. "Get her!" they roared, and a squad of dragons took off down the corridor, charging out of the room.

She took this opportunity to run in the opposite direction. She ran as quietly as she could, something she was quite good at. She had to get to the arena as quickly as she could. Her talons pounded against the stone floor, her breath rasping in her lungs. Wow, she really didn't have much stamina. Luckily, the arena wasn't so far away.

She skidded around a corner, and nearly ran straight into Peril. Peril didn't seem to notice anything, she looked sad - something Sunny hadn't expected her to show at all. Her wings were drooped but she walked with a certainty that spoke 'I don't care, get out of my way'. Sunny wanted to talk to her, but she felt a bit rushed for time. She had to see if her friends were ok and needed help. Even though it was night now and the fights would have ended, and she hoped... hoped that they were all still alive.

And then, she heard something. At first she dismissed it, but then it came again. It was a tuneful noise, drifting in on the wind. It sounded again, and Sunny saw Peril's ears shoot up. She turned around, facing in the same direction Sunny was, tilting her head to try to make out the noise.

Slowly, the noise scratched into a rhythm. It gradually sped up and became more confident. Sunny shivered, and then heard faint singing, singing in time with the rhythm. She slowly walked towards it, leaving Peril standing there.

Eventually, she came out onto a balcony that overlooked the arena. To her left, there were stairs leading down to the general seating areas which were empty. The final lights of sunset outlined the dusty grey-brown stone in an eerie light, and the three moons were shining brightly above the arena.

That's when she could make out the words, although the tune alone should've been enough of a giveaway. They were singing the Dragonets' Song.

Her heart filled with sorrow, and an almost grief-like feeling. The prisoners on the pillars were singing a song of hope, they believed in the dragonets. They saw an end to this, and they wanted the dragonets to help.

But who had started the song in the first place? It must have been whoever began to scratch out the tune, that strange melodious scratching.

She had to go investigate, and as she looked back to Peril she noticed she'd gone. Alright, Sunny had no stress to stay completely silent anymore. She'd still have to be careful though.

She began to walk quietly down the stairs, and then there was a burst of noise from the palace, somewhere behind her. Fire spurted from one of the arena doors, and Queen Scarlet appeared, striding confidently but still a little wonky (and seemed to be supported by a leg brace on her broken leg), being followed by Burn.

"Stop that infernal noise right now!" Burn roared, and Sunny instinctively ducked behind the stone fence that followed the stairs down. Burn sounded too much like Kestrel, way too much. The singing broke off instantly, and silence fell, the final echoes of Burn's furious shout dying down till they were heard no more.

Sunny crept forwards, feeling a little braver. She didn't dare try to go down the stairs, but she got closer to the railing, curious but terrified.

"You." Scarlet growled, pointing up at who Sunny could guess to be Tsunami. "And you." Scarlet pointed at Starflight. Starflight was only a shadow, a silhouette against the deep blue night sky.

The Queen's talon fell to Clay next. "And - well probably not you, but get down here anyway." Sunny looked up to see Clay lightly clasping a severed piece of wire, hiding it in the fold of one of his wings. He looked ragged and tired, possibly from his fight with the IceWing.

That... Glory had...

Was he the one that made the noise? Sunny thought, trying to change her thoughts to more positive ones. Was he giving them hope? That's such a Clay thing to do. she thought affectionally, and then pondered for a bit. I'm not sure if I would have the bravery to do that.

SkyWing soldiers marched out of the arena doors, emerging from behind Scarlet and Burn, flying up to the dragonets. Sunny watched as they seized her friends, and she began to feel dread building from her talons. Were Scarlet and Burn going to kill them?

No... they couldn't. They were still meant to fight in the arena, for entertainment? Surely they were too valuable as.... something...? to kill behind the scenes. If I was Scarlet, I would just make it more difficult for them to win...

She frowned, a little startled at her own brain. W- where did that thought even come from?

She realised now she couldn't save her friends yet. They were most likely going to be put somewhere heavily guarded, that Sunny wouldn't dare to break into to get them. She'd have to wait for them to be placed back on the pillar prisons.

If they ever will be again... she thought glumly, and then shook herself. No. She would be the hero. She would follow them! That's what Tsunami would do, wouldn't she?

She took off, flapping her wings as shallowly as she possibly could, following the departing Queens and the squadron of SkyWings.

As she glid after them, she could almost hear snatches of conversation. Then, very distinctly, she heard Scarlet roar: "WHAT?"

The SkyWing soldier she'd been talking too drifted away a bit, and she could see his face trying to fix itself from an expression of fear. "We still haven't found her, but we will send out more search parties. She can't have gone far, and golden scales don't camouflage well in these mountains."

"You better." Scarlet said, and the two soldiers carrying her looked uncomfortable. "I don't want search groups disrupting my festivities any more than these brats already have."

Sunny felt terror spreading through every bone. She really had to keep a low profile now, or else her life would be on the line.

Chapter 23

The group of dragons landed outside one of the many caves that branched off inside the palace. Sunny landed on an outcropping above the main hallway, clinging to the side of the rock and staying as still as she could.

She couldn't see into the cave from where she was, and she didn't dare lean forwards.

"Out." she heard Scarlet say.

"This is my room." Peril's voice snapped back.

Oh no... What are they going to do to my friends? Sunny thought, just as Scarlet spoke again.

"I am the queen here. You do as I say. Go sleep in the arena. If anyone else tries to sing, burn out his tongue." she growled.

She couldn't see Peril's reaction, but the silence said enough. A moment later, Peril stormed out, passing underneath where Sunny was hiding.

"In here." Scarlet barked, shoving Starflight into the cave, and out of Sunny's sight. Tsunami and Clay followed shortly after, leaping over what sounded like a pool of water from all the splashing. Soon, the only dragons in her sight were Scarlet (who still looked a bit lop-sided), Burn, and the guards that had escorted them all there.

"You will not interrupt my feast again. I'm sure you're very amused with yourselves." Scarlet hissed.

"Why don't you kill them?" Burn said, in a voice that sent shivers down Sunny's spine. The massive SandWing shifted on her feet, her talons making an ominous clanking as they hit the rock. Her barbed tail swept through a pile of ash on the floor, setting off miniature explosions of what looked like charcoal-coloured mist.

"Because that wouldn't be fun." Scarlet replied, "I want to see them fight. We have a whole day of entertainment planned for tomorrow. It's my hatching day! I want it to be thrilling."

Sunny watched as Burn gave the SkyWing guards a glare, and they retreated out of earshot.

Burn lowered her voice, and spoke again. Sunny couldn't make anything out but the last two words. "... kill them."

Oh no. Sunny thought, panic seizing her. I have to do something.

But Scarlet looked doubtful. "Well. Perhaps... But that didn't work out so well for you, did it? Everyone knows about the SkyWing egg - all the SkyWing eggs, in fact."

Sunny almost breathed a sigh of relief at the implications, but then realised what had been said after, and worried about that last bit. What does she mean? What happened?

"On the contrary, that worked perfectly. They don't have a SkyWing, do they? Only four dragonets - the prophecy is already incomplete." Burn said, her tongue flicking in and out.

"And yet." Scarlet sighed. "Our ignorant subjects are always yowling about the dragonets who are going to save the world. They believe in it, no matter what they've heard about broken eggs. If we kill the dragonets now, out of sight, it does us no good. Even if we hang their bodies from the palace walls, no one will believe it's them."

Burn bared her teeth, "The world doesn't need a prophecy." she spat. "It needs me as the queen of the SandWings."

"But listen." Scarlet said smoothly, holding up a talon. "If we put the dragonets in the arena, everyone can watch them die. They'll see how weak they really are. They'll lose all their faith in the prophecy. It'll all be over. Much more powerful than making them disappear, hmm? Don't you agree?"

"And what if they win?" Burn growled.

"They won't." Scarlet said confidently. "But of course, killing them ourselves is a solid backup plan."

"Excuse me." Sunny heard Tsunami's voice say. "You know we're right over here, right? Don't you want to hatch your evil plans somewhere more secretive?"

There was silence, and Sunny could almost hear the tension and anger in the air.

Scarlet stood there, furious, and then pulled something out from under her wing. There was a scattering noise of rock against rock, and then Burn leaned forwards, breathing fire onto where the things had landed. There was a fwoosh and a wall of fire burst up, blocking the dragonets inside from getting out.

Scarlet chuckled, "Sleep well, so you'll be thrilling in the arena. I thought I'd get to play with you for longer, but I guess you all have to be dead by sunset tomorrow." She sighed. "No one lets me have any fun."

With that, she swept out of the cave, head held high with self-importance. Burn gave one last glance at the flames, before following Scarlet down the corridor, passing under where Sunny hid.

Once the footsteps faded to an echo and died altogether, she dropped down onto the cave floor, stretching out her muscles which had gotten sore from staying in the same position for ages.

She could hear her friends talking to each other from the other side of the flames. She questioned whether to use her magic to put out the fire, or if she should try to get in to talk to them another way. Were there even windows in that room? How would she know she was sneaking into the right one? Aside from the fact there was a massive wall of fire and dragons that weren't SkyWings in it. Actually, come to think of it, Peril's room would be far away from other dragons, right? To make sure she didn't hurt anyone.

I guess that's why its not so busy h- Her thought was broken off by searing agonising pain on her tail. She whipped around to see Peril stumbling in confusion. She- she trod on my tail- Sunny wanted to scream, it hurt so bad. How much of her tail was burning?

"Reveal me." she choked, and through eyes full of tears and the stinging pain she saw first Peril's shocked expression and then the burning mess of her tail. There was a smouldering pit in her tail, like a gouged out eye socket. There was another, thinner wound a bit further along. It burned, more than Kestel's fire ever had.

"What- how-" Peril stammered, her ears flattening against her skull. "I didn't mean-"

Sunny's panicked twitching talons grasped around for something - a piece of coal. She lifted it up and almost pleaded under her breath. "Please heal me. Heal my injuries."

She dropped the rock as a sweeping sensation of exhaustion overcame her, and she shook her head, trying not to throw up.

Peril had gone quiet, and from the fog in her mind, Sunny couldn't tell if she was still there.

After the nausea vanished, Sunny lifted up her tail to examine it. It looked spotless, almost as if nothing had happened. The adrenaline was still pounding through her veins, and she looked up shakily.

Peril's expression was changing, flicking between confusion to panic, and settled on firm confusion. "You need to explain what happened right now. What. Was. That?" she hissed.

Sunny looked around to see if the commotion had attracted any attention, and noticed that Scarlet hadn't bothered to post any guards to make sure the three dragonets in the cave didn't escape. The corridor was empty.

"I was making sure my friends were alright." she said simply.

Peril's eyes narrowed. That obviously wasn't the answer she wanted. "Why didn't I see you?"

"I was hiding? Really well?" Sunny tried.

Peril said nothing.

Sunny sighed, giving in. "I have a special necklace that lets me become invisible to everyone. I was using it to spy on Queen Scarlet and keep an eye on my friends."

Peril looked at her for a while, and then shrugged. "I'm going to talk to them. I don't know if Cla- they're ok."

Sunny nodded. "Are you going to maybe uh... set them free?"

"I don't know," was her response. And then she turned and poked her head through the fire.

There were shocked exclamations, presumably from the dragonets and she heard Peril say something she couldn't quite make out.

Sitting down, she wondered if she should bother hiding herself again. There wasn't anyone here at the moment, but there was bound to be at some point. Better safe than sorry. "Hide me." she whispered, and she vanished immediately.

She sat and thought for a bit, trying to listen in to the conversation every now and then, to no avail. The roar of the flames was too loud. She tucked her wings in, absent-mindedly tracing the crevasses of rocks beneath her.

Her mind wandered, and she thought back to the strange dreams she'd started having since she'd first arrived at the SkyWing Palace. What did they mean? She'd have to ask Starflight when this was all over. She was so deep in thought that she missed Peril completely walking through the fire and disappearing from view, leaving her completely alone in the corridor.

She only realised that when the flaming coals moved, and a pair of flaming talons reached out from the fire, pulling the rocks aside completely.

"Reveal me." Sunny said quickly, and to her delight, she saw faces she hadn't seen properly in ages - her friends.

"Sunny!" Clay cried out quietly, running to her and scooping her up into a big hug. "You're ok!"

"How did you get out?" Starflight asked Sunny in a concerned tone, as Peril moved the coals back in place. "Scarlet has the whole place on high alert for you from what I heard."

Sunny glanced at Peril, and met her blue eyes. "Peril helped me. When the guards at my cage changed, she burned through the lock and let me out." She didn't feel comfortable lying to her friends, but then, hadn't she done that enough already?

Peril nodded, in a mildly convincing way. "I've moved the coals back so Her Majesty won't know how you got out." She whispered, glancing back at her room. Sunny saw that she looked a bit dejected, and she wondered what had happened. She hadn't looked like that before she went into the flames. It could be because she was disobeying her queen, but for some reason that didn't quite feel like the right answer.

"Can you get these off our wings?" Starflight asked, pointing to the bindings on their wings and ankles.

Peril gave him a surprisingly irritated look. "Maybe. But maybe I'll wait until I know you won't leave without saying goodbye."

"Maybe I can try to get them off instead?" Sunny whispered hopefully. She lifted up one of Tsunami's talons and tugged at it, trying to break it. Tsunami pulled her talon back, looking a bit taken off-guard.

Peril scowled.

She doesn't want them... us? to leave. I think it's about Clay. Sunny thought, noticing how Peril always seemed to look at him, in a sort of you're-going-to-leave-and-I-don't-want-that way. I could be wrong. It might just be because she doesn't have many friends. Let's just hope... let's just hope she doesn't do something to keep us here.

"Which way to the waterfall?" Tsunami asked.

Peril nodded up the tunnel, and then slunk off without another word.

Sunny followed quietly, walking alongside Starflight. He seemed distant, his face concerned but pensive.

"Stop making her mad." She heard Tsunami whisper to Clay.

"Me? What did I do?" Clay responded, sounding confused.

"Well, you're a handsome idiot." Tsunami said, not accusingly. "I'll tell you later."

Clay turned his head away, and Sunny caught his expression. He didn't seem to notice or get what she was pretty sure everyone else did. She wanted to tell him, but now wasn't the time.

Chapter 24

They all walked in silence, following the tunnel up and around until Peril stopped and whispered, "We need to be really quiet here."

The group nodded, and they all moved onwards, towards the sounds of partying dragons. Sunny found herself crouching closer to the ground, as if that would make her quieter.

Peril looked back and at Clay, who was staring at the floor. "Hey." she asked. "Once you're free... what are you going to do?"

"We'll find our parents. I've never been to the MudWing Kingdom. I can't wait." Clay responded, his face lighting up.

"Really?" Peril asked, her face hardening. "You'll go straight there? Just the five of you?"

"Absolutely, as soon as poss-" his answer was cut off by a yelp, as Tsunami stamped down hard on his tail.

He really needs to know... Sunny thought, looking at Peril's expression. She looked hurt, but it wasn't entirely obvious. Sunny watched as she turned and continued walking.

Tsunami and Starflight gave each other a look, and then glanced at Sunny. She shrugged, and they turned back to follow Peril and Clay.

They reached a huge doorway, and Peril motioned for them to hide. The four of them pressed against the wall as Peril scanned the party. "Tuck low." she commanded under her breath. "They shouldn't see you. Head for the opening in the wall, and jump down."

Sunny heard Clay's stomach growl, and she realised that she could smell food. Immediately, she began to feel hungry and wondered how long it had been since she'd last eaten. Sunny saw the cage she'd spent the last few days in hanging empty above the hall, and realised just how small it looked from the outside. She couldn't see much of the party, but from what it sounded like there were way too many dragons in one place. She heard occasional bleats of goats, which made her wonder how much of the food served at the banquet was still alive.

Tsunami was first to go, moving quickly and keeping her body low to the ground. Then Clay, then Starflight and finally Sunny. She didn't have the best scales at all for staying hidden, and hoped no one had spotted her.

She ducked behind a pillar and saw the opening in the low wall that Peril had referred to. They stood and waited, and a moment later Peril joined them.

"Sorry," she said. "I had to wait for the queen to look the other way."

Then, without another word, they all went through the gap in the wall in single file and followed a narrow path down. As they walked, a constant roaring noise became more and more apparent. This must be the waterfall Peril was talking about.

Soon, she could feel the humidity in the air and they emerged onto a cliff edge. From here, she could see a wide panorama of the Sky Kingdom, distant mountains frozen in an endless race for the sky. The moons were bright, but none of them were full. The rivers far below ran like liquid silver, slinking through the cracks in the rocky terrain below.

The wind blasted fine water droplets onto her face, and she kept having to wipe her eyes so she could see.

Sunny looked over at the rest of the group and saw Starflight pressed against the wall. "Are you sure you don't want to unbind our wings now?" he asked, closing his eyes.

"You'll be fine." Peril said, not very reassuringly. Sunny felt her stomach flip uncomfortably at this. "It's easy to climb down from here. I've done it when my wings are tired. See? The cave's right there."

Sunny's ears pricked up and she heard something faint over the sound of the waterfall. She strained her ears to try and catch the sound, and then it hit her: wingbeats. A moment later, the rest of the dragonets looked up too.

"Hide." Clay said, shoving at Peril into the tunnel. Sunny's jaw dropped. She turned to Clay as he continued, unaware of what he had just done. "If they find you helping us, the queens will kill you, champion or not."

Peril's expression matched how Sunny felt, and as she looked at Tsunami and Starflight she saw they'd noticed as well.

"How did you do that?" Peril whispered in utter confusion and amazement.

"Do-" Clay began, and then looked down at his claws in surprise.

"Stop gawping." Tsunami snapped, breaking everyone out of a shocked trance. "Everybody run."

"I don't think so." came Queen Scarlet's voice from behind them.

Sunny whipped around and met the gaze of a furious queen. She's found me- I can't hide- She'll know- her brain sped up into panic mode. She grasped at her necklace, knowing it could do nothing if she wanted to stay safe.

"Thank you, Peril." Queen Scarlet said, grinning with all of her teeth. "You may be excused."

Sunny's jaw dropped open. No way... She betrayed us.

Peril glanced at Clay, her face full of too many emotions for Sunny to keep up with.

But... she wanted to keep Clay here, didn't she? She thought, trying to organise her brain back into sensible, linear thoughts again. She found it hard to think from Peril's point of view, as she'd just doomed them all to certain death, but she could sort of see where she was coming from.

But that didn't matter anymore.

"Going somewhere?" Scarlet grinned, tipping her head down at the dragonets with a smug smile. SkyWing soldiers descended from the sky, landing behind her, surrounding them so there was no escape.

Chapter 25

Sunny was hauled off and separated from her friends the moment they were captured. In all the chaos of the fighting she hadn't seen where Starflight had gone - but then again he wasn't much of a fighter. Neither was she, and her efforts to escape failed and she was restrained. This time, she figured they weren't taking any chances, as her wings, mouth and talons were swiftly bound and she was roughly hefted over one of the guards' shoulders like a sack of rocks.

As she was dragged away from the sound of whooshing fire and thumping claws, she felt herself getting sleepier and sleepier. The rhythmic thumping lulled her into a steady sleep and her eyes closed.

Four echoing shadowed corridors that stretched for miles. Each of them straight, never-ending. Just white mist at the end, leading to nothingness. It felt cold.

Sunny took two steps forwards, her cool breath scratching at the inside of her chest. Why was her breath cold?

This dream didn't feel like her previous dreams. She knew this was a dream. The cold felt odd.

Why am I here? she thought, and her ears picked up a faint repetitive clanking noise. What is that?

The world was completely black and white, there was no other colour aside from Sunny, who had her normal golden scales.

A flash of light purple caught her vision and she turned. "You again." she heard herself say. She didn't know why she was talking to a floating splotch of colour, but it seemed to be the only other non-monochromatic thing in the whole desolate world she stood in.

As she expected, it did not respond. She had no idea if it was even conscious.

"What are you?" she said, taking a step forwards to study it closer. It didn't react, it didn't even flicker - if it even was fire.

She reached out to touch it, and her claw poked the purple. It rippled like water, and vanished.

Small splotches of colour appeared all around her. Suddenly, the entire landscape was pock-marked with glimpses of colour. The repetitive noise she'd heard before was getting louder, and she felt herself waking up.

Her eyes opened. To her surprise, it wasn't to a racing heart or scales soaked in sweat. As her eyes cleared, she saw that she was in a dark, barren cell. There wasn't much dirt, possibly because Scarlet didn't want to scuff or ruin Sunny's shiny scales so she could be presented to Burn. But to her surprise, she felt happier and more... at peace than she figured she should be. She could still hear the tapping noise, and as she looked up she saw it was being made by a SkyWing on the other side of bars to her.

It took a moment for her to register his face. It wasn't one she recognised all that well- not one that had a name attached but she knew it was a soldier. There wasn't much light in the cell, so the wall behind the soldier wasn't visible to her. The solider held a lantern which glowed brightly, but as she looked closer he wasn't standing in a corridor. He was in a cell as well.

His claws were still tapping and hadn't missed a beat since she woke up.

Tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap.

As her eyes adjusted, she saw a dark shape somewhere behind him. She squinted, but couldn't make out anything more than a blurry shape. It looked like a dragon, but she wasn't certain until it suddenly stepped closer and into the light.

"She's awake?" the dragon asked, and Sunny recognised him immediately. This was definitely one of the guards who had guarded her cage - it was Tangelo.

The other dragon grunted, and took his claws off the bars, lifting the lantern back to illuminate the both of them.

"What are you doing here?" Sunny asked.

"Well..." the SkyWing that wasn't Tangelo said to Sunny. "This is kind of your fault."

"Me? How is this my fault?" Sunny said indignantly.

"You escaped!" the SkyWing said, spreading his wings. "Her Majesty blamed us for letting you run away - you filed through the bars and we didn't even notice!"

"Swift..." Tangelo said tiredly, putting his head in one of his talons. "If she'd... filed though the bars, the bars would be broken..." He let out a long-suffering sigh. "I keep telling you that. I still think she stole a key from someone without us noticing."

"But how?" Swift retorted. "There's only two keys, the one you have and the one that's in the guards room. And to get to both, she had to have been out of the cage in the first place."

Tangelo turned to Sunny, and leaned against the bars, a small flicker of fire escaping his nostrils. "How did you escape?"

"I- I-" Sunny stammered. Her brain wasn't working for some reason, it kept falling back to her magic but she shouldn't say. "I- I picked the lock. With my claws."

Tangelo didn't look convinced, but Swift nodded slightly. "Not sure how you thought of doing that, but it could make sense." Swift said.

Sunny felt a stab of irritation. "What's that supposed to mean?" she squeaked indignantly, and then coughed, a little embarrassed at how high her voice had gone. "What's that supposed to mean?" she tried again.

The two SkyWings gave each other a sideways glance.

"...Anyway." Swift said. "Her Majesty was very mad, but I don't-" he lowered his voice. "I don't know why she locked us up. She can be really unreasonable and that makes me question deserting the SkyWing army and going to live somewhere else."

Tangelo hissed. "Couldn't you have said that any quieter?"

As he said that, the frill Sunny had noticed before stood out, flaring up by either side of his head.

She took this opportunity to be the one asking questions, and pointed, "What's that?"

Tangelo's talons flew up to the frills by the side of his head. "What's what?" he said, irritably.

"Those RainWing ruffs on either side of your head." Sunny said, trying not to shrink under his gaze. She wasn't used to arguing back or responding as confrontationally as she was, but she was determined to stand her ground. "Are you a hybrid?"

To her surprise, Tangelo didn't snap back or deny it. Instead, he sighed and his aggressive composure relaxed entirely. "Yeah. But it doesn't mean anything."

"Oh? How do you mean?" she asked, confused. "Isn't being a hybrid really cool? Don't you get like, the abilities of two tribes? Instead of one?"

"Hah! No." Tangelo said, looking away. He looked unsure, as if he was thinking of saying more but at the same time wasn't comfortable. She could sort of understand why, they really didn't know each other.

Swift suddenly extinguished the lantern with a quick motion, stealing the fire from the cells and plunging them all into darkness. Now, the only light source was daylight from the exit of the dungeons.

"So." Swift said. "Should we try to escape, or...?"

Up until this point, Sunny had completely forgotten about the dire situation outside, and how she was going to be given to Burn as a gift and how her friends were going to die fiery deaths in Scarlet's arena. "Yes. I mean, if you're escaping please take me with you."

She was met with silence, which made her wonder if they'd heard her.

"Well I don't see why not." Swift said. "We're not guards anymore, technically, now that we're the ones who have been thrown in this prison."

Tangelo harrumphed. "That's true."

Sunny thought, Shouldn't they know where the keys are, if they've guarded this place before?

"You have the keys right?" Swift whispered.

"Should do." Tangelo said, and she could almost hear the shrug in his voice. There was a muffled jangle.

Sunny blinked. Well that answers that question.

"Dragonet?" Swift said.

It took Sunny a moment to realise he was talking to her. "Yes?"

"Your arms are thin enough to slip through the bars and unlock your door. Can you do that, and then let us out?" Swift replied. There was a small klink, and then a clatter against the bars.

"Are you sure you can trust her?" Tangelo said suddenly. "What if she just runs off?"

"Then there's nothing we can do." Swift responded. "But if we don't trust her with this, how will we get out?"

"When our sentence is served, her Majesty will let us out." Tangelo argued.

"Why are you suddenly so adamant that we stay put? She might forget about us and leave us to rot." Swift snapped back. "Dragonet, take this."

There was another jangle, and a small flicker of light appeared. Swift was breathing a small flame and keeping it in his mouth, giving them just enough light for Sunny to take the keys. The moment the cool metal landed in her talons, the light vanished and she was left in the dark to feel her way along the bars.

Not being able to see anything is getting frustrating... Sunny thought as she nearly stumbled over another rock on the floor. What if... I used my magic so I could actually see? That wouldn't be too harmful, would it?

Her claws stubbed on another rock and she lifted it up. "Enchant this rock to allow me to see in the dark." she said under her breath, immediately everything cleared up and she could see. Swift and Tangelo vaguely facing in her direction. Their eyes stared blindly into the darkness.

"Hmmm?" Swift asked.

"Oh, nothing." Sunny said quickly, clutching the rock as she walked towards her cell door, feeling more confident. "Just talking to myself."

"Ok. Just... be quick." he responded. "We don't know when the guards will pick up on what's going on in here, or if they'll decide to check in on the prisoners."

Sunny didn't respond, instead she unlocked the cage with ease and slipped out, closing it behind her and locking it back up. Then, she tiptaloned over to the other cell and unlocked it quickly. "Come on." she whispered.

The two SkyWings stumbled their way to the exit, keeping their wings out for some sort of spacial awareness. Now that Sunny could properly see, she saw that they were alone in the section of the prison they were in. There were no other dragons that could've heard the conversation, and that made her somewhat relieved. If there was anyone keeping them company, listening in, they could've tipped the guards off and their escape would've been in vain.

After the cell door closed, Tangelo lit the lantern again. To Sunny's surprise, the light emitted didn't affect her vision much at all, it just slightly changed the colour of wherever it touched.

"What are we waiting for?" Swift said under his breath. "Go!"

The three cleared out, moving quickly towards the exit and as they emerged into the dimly lit corridor, Sunny realised that there was way more prison than she'd originally thought. Her scales were beginning to tingle, and she couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched.

Still, they continued their journey down the corridor, lantern swinging slightly as the flame flickered in the cool breeze. She couldn't quite make out where it was coming from, but she hoped it was from an exit of some sort. After turning a corner they reached a door, and Tangelo beckoned Sunny. "Pass me the keys." he said, and she placed them in his palm. He gave her the lantern and she held it up in a way that she hoped cast enough light for him to see.

He fumbled the keys and just as he was about to put the right keys into the lock, she heard a voice behind them calling out. "Sunny?"

They all whipped around as the voice came again: "Sunny?"

Now that she looked where the voice came from she realised they hadn't been alone in this part of the dungeon. The dragon's voice came again and now Sunny knew it. She saw who it was, even though he looked ages younger than when she'd last seen him. It was Dune.

Chapter 26

"Dune?!" she asked incredulously, and her voice echoed back to her.

"Shh!" Swift hissed. There was a pause. "You know that prisoner?"

"Yeah." Sunny said, squinting at Dune and spotting Kestrel pacing somewhere behind him. "I know both of them."

"Both? There are two?" Tangelo said, walking up to the bars. "How long have you been there?"

Kestrel looked up from her pacing and Dune stared out blindly in their general direction. "I don't know. A few days, I think." he rasped.

Tangelo turned to Swift. "Weren't these the older dragons we captured along with the dragonets of destiny?" he said, nodding his head at Sunny.

Kestrel run up to the bars and grabbed them, looking as if she was trying to force her way through. "The dragonets? They're here?" Her eyes fell on Sunny, and her face returned to a scowl. She withdrew, as Tangelo took a step closer and held the lantern higher, as if to get a closer look at them.

"Yep." Sunny said, trying her best to sound nice and polite. "But I don't know if for long. I lost them after we... first tried to escape this place."

Kestrel snorted a small burst of flame. "Why am I not surprised that you didn't make it? You can't even get that right."

Sunny felt a stab of anger. "We escaped you pretty easily." she snapped back, and then realised what she said as Kestrel growled. She took two steps back and half-hid behind Tangelo.

"Pfft." Kestrel snarled, grabbing the bars again. "Not without attracting the entire Sky Kingdom. I should've let you all die."

"Hey, hey." Dune said and the prison fell silent again. There was a long quiet moment where everyone thought for a while.

The noise the broke the silence was Tangelo turning back to the door and fumbling at the lock again. The key slid into the keyhole and turned with a creaky click. A beam of daylight split through the dusty dungeon and Sunny realised she must've been asleep for longer than she initially thought.

Tangelo poked his head outside, presumably listening for anyone that might witness their escape. "All clear, they just left." he whispered back to them, the frill by his ears folding out a little. "Come on. They'll be back soon."

He pushed the door open a bit further and let Swift through. "Come on, Sunny." he said, beckoning with his free talon.

"Wait." Dune said as Sunny turned to the door. "Before you go, can't you let us out?" His eyes met Sunny's and she felt incredibly guilty. But the clock was ticking and there was only so much time until the guards came back around the corner. She fiddled with the night-vision rock in her talons uncomfortably.

"Sorry, Dune." she said, taking another step towards the door as Tangelo held it open in a slightly impatient manner. "It's difficult enough for three of us to escape without being spotted. Five dragons would just get us all thrown back in here. But I will come back for you." she nodded.

As she slipped out, she thought she heard Kestrel snort. The door began to drift shut and Sunny caught it just before it banged against the frame and made a noise that would attract attention for sure. Tangelo swiftly locked it up and slid the keys in a small gap in the stonework.

To her surprise, there weren't any dragons around at all. She really thought that there would be at least someone, considering that this was a prison and that there wasn't anyone on the inside. But then again, most of them were probably watching the battles in the arena - another reason as to why she really had to get out of here as quickly as possible.

"Where do we go now?" she asked quietly.

Tangelo and Swift looked at each other. "I think this is where we leave you, dragonet. Despite how much it would be safer for us to stay together, I think we'd be more likely to get caught." Swift said. "So... not really much safer. But you know what I mean. Take care of yourself." he patted her on the head, and she didn't even feel annoyed.

"But what about you? Where are you going?" Sunny replied, feeling a pang of sadness. Her eyes were starting to tear up and she realised despite she hadn't known them for very long, they were beginning to feel like close friends to her. She didn't want them to go just yet. "You'll be in danger if you stay here any longer. You've already been put in prison once."

"Took the words out of my mouth, kid." Swift said, his eyes sad but his expression calm and neutral. "But you're a strong character. You'll get your friends out and maybe one day we'll see each other again. We're thinking of heading to the rainforest. We should be able to stay there for a bit and besides." he inclined his head at Tangelo. "They know him there."

"Ok." Sunny said. "Be safe."

"You too." Tangelo responded, cutting in before Swift could say anything more.

And with that, they both turned and flew away, vanishing from sight almost instantly.

Sunny breathed a sigh, trying not to cry. She set the rock that she'd enchanted to give her night vision down, and fiddled with the rope of her necklace instead. "Hide me." she whispered, and she vanished. As soon as she turned in the direction of the arena, her heart began to race and she thought, There's no time for sadness now. My friends need help, and I'm the only dragon who can help them. I can do this.

She took a deep breath, and took off into the sky.

Chapter 27

The mountain wind tugged at her invisible wings. As she rapidly ascended into the frosty blue sky, her breath turned to mist and she wondered if anyone else could see it. The dramatic mountains fell and she felt only one thing aside from the sheer chill, determination. As she soared over the outskirts of the Sky Palace, the towering pillars of rock that held prisoners became clear to her. They didn't seem so foreboding, now that she knew she could...

She stopped that train of thought, doubts beginning to creep in as she neared. Where had all of this confidence come from? She supposed her mind had felt refreshed since she woke up in the prison, but was that even down to the dream or the fact she had slept well? Who was she to even think about taking on an entire kingdom to save her friends? They wouldn't have trusted her with such a big task, anyway. Even if they were with her, she wouldn't be doing any of the dirty work. She thought back to when they were in the cave, planning their escape. They'd doubted her plans and that meant Clay's life was put in danger. It was all in vain in the end anyway, and although she felt like she should blame them for the plan not working in the end, it wasn't right to.

Or was it? the darker parts of her argued. Maybe if they'd gone with your idea we wouldn't be in this predicament.

She shook her head. No. My friends need me. They're family, and they aren't all bad all the time. I have to stay confident in my abilities, even if no one else is.

Beating her wings faster, she swooped in. Her stomach dropped as she saw there was already a fight going on in the arena. She stopped and hovered over the centre, far above the sands. She blinked rapidly, trying to keep the cool air out of her eyeballs and focus on the dragons fighting. They were both SeaWings, and as she looked closer, she saw that one of them was Tsunami.

Oh no. Oh no, no. No. Sunny thought, shock rippling through every muscle, almost seizing her wings mid-beat. She could see from this vantage point that although she didn't recognize the dragon Tsunami was fighting, he was reasonably older and looked absolutely deranged. But it looked like Tsunami had the upper hand, and as they dodged and feinted around each other, Tsunami landing hit after hit, eventually the other SeaWing faltered and fell. Tsunami leapt on his back,immediately taking the opportunity now that her opponent was vulnerable.

She looked up to Scarlet who sat smugly on the balcony that overlooked the arena and shouted, "I've won. You can all see that."

Sunny's eyes widened. Tsunami was giving him mercy. Sparing him. Although she wasn't how certain it would work, the worry in her muscles that had been there since she woke up eased.

"We can end this now, without killing anyone. I ask you all to let me let him live!" Tsunami continued. The determination on her face as the other SeaWing struggled under her claws gave Sunny hope. Maybe... just maybe, we could make this a peaceful ending.

But the crowd's reaction was anything but merciful. Silence had fallen, but Scarlet didn't move. She stayed seated, still smug. As if on cue, the crowd began to roar again. Sunny's eyes fell to two dragons behind where Scarlet sat. They both stood, hunched and in chains, watching Tsunami below. As one of them glanced slightly up, she saw it was Clay and Starflight. Glory was on the same ivory tree she'd been on for presumably the past few days, to the other side of Scarlet's throne.

All my friends are here. I could rescue them all now. Sunny thought. If I wanted to, I could even free every prisoner here.

As tempting as it was, she knew that would be a dangerous idea. Besides, most would be recaptured as the SkyWing guards were generally more suited for flying and were less malnourished, so could catch them easily. And if the dragonets were freed, they would be swarmed by the guards and possibly killed on the spot. She had to wait, as much as her flippy nervous heart wanted to argue otherwise.

She glanced down again, and saw Tsunami holding dead eye contact with Scarlet. Her eyes were hollow and piercing, whereas Scarlet's were calm and victorious. "Perhaps our 'dragonet of destiny' doesn't have the stomach for battle," Scarlet drawled mockingly. "Maybe war is too scary for her. Perhaps she'd like to go back into hiding instead?"

Tsunami stiffened, face tightening into a snarl. And, with a decisive twisting snap that echoed around the arena, she snapped the dragon's neck.

Sunny winced, averting her eyes. Her stomach heaved and she had to cover her mouth. She didn't- he's- she thought, horrified.

"Disappointing." she heard Scarlet mutter, as the crowd burst into excited cheers.

"Catastrophic." Burn rolled her eyes. "Look, the idiots love her now."

As Sunny looked back down to Tsunami, she saw the crowd were throwing small gems at her. She took a couple of steps back, dropping the SeaWing's head. Her expression was disgusted, and she shook off her claws.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Scarlet said suddenly, causing Sunny to look back over at her. "But now it's time for the NightWing! My hatching-day present to me!"

Starflight, who was sitting hunched over up until now, stiffened. Even though she couldn't see his face, she could tell he was terrified. The nearby guards began to close in and started to unchain him. As they were doing this, Clay struggled as well, crying out "Wait! Let me fight for him instead."

This made Sunny feel sad. She felt again, she had to do something, but she didn't know what. She wasn't smart enough or fast enough, and she knew Starflight wouldn't survive against whoever Scarlet would choose. And she wouldn't go easy on him. He was a NightWing, a dragon who could (presumably) see into the future and read minds!

Scarlet turned to Burn and said something Sunny couldn't quite hear. The queen waved a talon and the guards hauled Starflight away. Clay pulled at his chains, desperately trying to follow.

Sunny pivoted in the air, aware that her wings were seriously beginning to ache. But where could she land? She hadn't thought about it quite this far. Her eyes fell on Glory. She hadn't reacted to what was going on, instead she was sleeping in the sun like she had been when Sunny first flew in. She wondered how long Glory had been like that, and whether she was ok.

She angled her wings towards the ivory tree, and landed quietly by the tree. Instinctively ducking behind the tree, she tried to keep out of sight, before remembering she was invisible. It was difficult to reassure herself of that as every other part of her was screaming that she was in danger. While Scarlet announced Starflight's battle, she felt a sense of urgency.

"Glory." she said abruptly. "Glory."

Glory flinched and her scales flashed slightly pale green for a second, before returning to swirling galaxy purples and blues. "Sunny, three moons, you scared me," she whispered, barely moving her mouth at all or giving any indication she was talking.

"How are you?" Sunny blurted. "Are you ok? Have they done anything to you?"

"No, they haven't done anything bad to me... yet. Scarlet's mentioned multiple times she intends to get rid of me when she gets bored of me, which sounds too much like someone else we know." Glory scoffed, sounding slightly amused.

Sunny laughed awkwardly, not wanting to see the funny side. "Kestrel, right?"

Glory snorted. "Duh."

"Oh! Speaking of Kestrel, I know where she is. She's in a cell with Dune." Sunny said, perking up. "I know where they are, so if I use my magic to help us all escape we can get them out too!"

Glory didn't respond for a while. Her emotions flickered across her scales, giving all the indication as to what she was thinking. "I don't want to free them. They wanted to kill me, because I'm not part of the prophecy. And you don't need to use your magic for anything. I don't deserve it, or someone else's destiny."

"You are part of the prophecy! You don't need to be a stupid SkyWing to have a destiny!" Sunny said, before falling silent, realizing she'd said it a little too loud. Thankfully none of the guards seemed to notice.

"Starflight and Tsunami are fighting some scavengers." Glory remarked, changing the subject. Sunny glanced up in surprise. She walked over to the side of the balcony to look down into the arena. Sure enough, her friends were battling, but as Starflight flung one off, they retreated out of sight.

Scarlet said something to Burn before shouting louder, "Let's go straight to the IceWings!"

Another SkyWing made a signal and guards rose into the sky. They began to unchain the IceWings that sat on top of the pillars and take them down to the arena.

"Let me fight too!" she heard Clay shout. "Put me in there with them!"

Something in the clouds caught her eye, but it was gone so quickly she thought she imagined it. Squinting, she stared at the sky and saw a flicker of black again.

"Glory?" she whispered. "Do you see that?"

Out of the clouds came a huge sweeping shape. It flew over the arena, and descended onto the arena sands. The sun illuminated it, making it look almost ghostly. And that was when she recognized who it was.

It was Morrowseer.

Chapter 28

Her eyes widened as he landed on the arena sands, his wings opening majestically. The arena fell into dead silence as everyone stared.

Morrowseer! Sunny thought. Why is he here? Maybe this is the perfect distraction for me to use my magic and help us escape. But what if he's here to take us away. Wait- he can read minds- maybe I've thought too much and he knows about my magic... her talons grasped her necklace. No... he won't. I've protected myself. Besides, with everyone else here, wouldn't they be drowning me out anyway? She didn't exactly know how mind reading worked, considering she herself was not blessed with these powers (which made her wonder, what if she gave herself them? That could certainly benefit all of them, and keep them safe, and she'd be able to see Scarlet's next move! But she pushed that away, that was something she couldn't think about now) but if it was anything like normal dragons heard conversation, you couldn't particularly focus on any one voice without it all being a jumble. He probably wasn't even a mind-reader, after everything she seemed so there was no point in becoming hysterical over it.

"This dragonet is ours," Morrowseer boomed, pointing a single talon at Starflight.

Sunny's face fell. Just him? she thought, dejectedly. Not the rest of us? I mean, good for him, he nearly died, but still... none of us?

"Ours who?" Scarlet said, half challenging. "We found him with some Talons of Peace revolutionaries. Are you telling me the NightWings have finally chosen sides?"

"Are you allying yourself with an underground peace movement instead of a real queen?" Burn growled, backing Scarlet's statement up.

Morrowseer didn't break eye contact with Scarlet, and Sunny glanced up at the sky, spotting a faraway circle of black dragons all hovering vaguely over the arena. "No. I come only to claim this dragonet as ours. We will take him and go."

"Oh will you?" Scarlet responded slickly. "On whose authority? Would your mysterious queen like to appear and discuss the matter with me?"

Sunny looked back at Morrowseer, who was glowering dangerously. His eyes burned with a dark fire. "Do not anger the NightWings, sky dragon. Give us our dragonet."

"No! I want to see him fight IceWings! It's my hatching day!" Queen Scarlet stamped her foot, and Sunny dreaded to watch what would happen next. Would Morrowseer straight out attack Scarlet? Would those circling NightWings descend and slaughter her and Burn?

Neither of those things happened. But, at first she thought she'd predicted it. The black dragons flew down, wings tucked in. There was one NightWing for every IceWing prisoner, and each IceWing prisoner was murdered. Quickly and then they were up again, soaring into the clouds, leaving only corpses and smears of blue blood on each pillar the IceWings had been on. Sunny felt sick, and wished she could've reacted fast enough - maybe to save them or something. She'd seen too much death, and she of all dragons was one that could have stopped it.

Scarlet looked furious. Her head was wreathed in thick smoke, and she glared at Morrowseer.

He smiled coldly, not quite smug, but looking as though he had proved a point. "There. We've taken care of your IceWing problem. Now we'll be going." He lifted off, grabbing Starflight's shoulders and yanking him into the air with him.

"Wait!" she could hear Starflight cry as he was pulled away and up into the sky. "What about my friends?"

Part of Sunny hoped Morrowseer would turn around and say "Oh yes, they're also vital to the prophecy. We can't let them die. I'll get my NightWing troops to rescue them too." but she knew that was not what the entire "That is our dragonet" thing was leading up to.

Morrowseer didn't even react to Starflight's plea. He soared away without another word. Sunny heard Glory snort behind her.

Scarlet looked absolutely furious. "Guards!" she roared, a spurt of flame accompanying this word. "I will have one thing go right today. Fetch my champion, and clean up that mess." she swept a wing towards the IceWing entrails.

Sunny couldn't watch anymore as the guards swept up the dead SeaWing's corpse. She focused her eyes on Glory whose expression was unbothered but her scales said otherwise. She was covered in patches of sickly green, of which Scarlet had noticed and wrinkled her snout at.

"As you all know," Scarlet said regally, a sudden and complete change to how she had just been speaking. Although it was calm, there was still a harshness to her words. "Yesterday my champion, Peril, offered to stand for the accused prisoner, Kestrel, in a Champion's Shield. She will now fight a dragon of my choosing, and if she wins, Kestrel goes free. If she loses - then I suppose I'll have to get a new champion."

Sunny frowned. She'd really missed a lot. What was the Champions Shield? Why was this going to save Kestrel? What about Dune? Who was Peril going to-

She cut herself off that last question. Cold dread crept through her. It's going to be Clay, isn't it? Scarlet knows he has fireproof scales, and.... well, it just fits, doesn't it? What can I do? Watch it play out? Clay won't hurt her, I think. Surely this will be ok... right? Peril won't want to hurt him either... I think... I hope... she glanced up at Glory who'd opened her eyes. She was watching Scarlet attentively.

"What are you planning?" Sunny asked. "If you even can escape?"

"I don't know, Sunny." Glory said. "But whatever I'm planning can't wait much longer."

"I could always use my magic," Sunny responded, hoping there was some way she could help.

"To do what?" Glory asked. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"I don't know... I was just hoping you had something planned I could help with," Sunny said, fiddling with her claws. She was aware of Clay being unchained and taken to the centre of the arena.

"Well that's helping no one." Glory responded, turning her head away. "Now shush, while I think of something."

Sunny fell silent, looking back over at the arena. Peril stepped out of the shade, and advanced towards Clay. Her head was low, and her eyes glowed dangerously.

"There you go, Peril," Scarlet said, with a hint of glee. "That's the dragon you have to kill before I set your mother free. Have fun!" Her tail coiled around her talons and she looked smug.

Clay immediately turned tail towards the wall behind him, and ran for it. Sunny watched in fear as Peril chased after, but at the last second Clay spun round and rammed into her, pushing her to the ground. He quickly got up, leaving Peril behind, wheezing. Backing up against the wall to make sure she couldn't get behind him, he stood waiting for her to get up. As she staggered to her feet, she said something Sunny couldn't quite make out. Clay responded, and Sunny glanced up to see Scarlet's reaction.

The queen's face was as pleased as it had been before, she didn't seem bothered by their conversation. A flash of blue caught her attention, and she looked up to see Tsunami struggling at her chains.

What if I.... broke them? Sunny thought. What if I freed Tsunami? She glanced down at her talons, and thought she saw a glint of purple reflect off the scales on her palms. What would happen then? Would I be dooming Tsunami to even more punishment? Or would it cause a distraction so we could all escape? But wouldn't we just get recaptured?

"Glory," she whispered urgently. "What if I freed all of the prisoners? And transferred the chains to the SkyWing guards so they couldn't stop them from escaping?"

Glory didn't respond for so long that she thought she hadn't heard her, and just before she was about to repeat the question, Glory said: "That could work. Not sure about transferring the chains to the guards, but you could certainly do something to stop them. How about sending them to sleep for a little bit?"

"Alright." Sunny said. That sounded like a good idea. She looked around for something to enchant, excitement and anticipation bubbling up in her chest. She pulled a small twig off from Glory's tree and whispered. "I enchant this stick so that when I break it, every SkyWing guard in the vicinity of the arena will fall into a sleep that lasts five hundred heartbeats. When they wake up, they will not remember that they fell asleep, and will continue as if nothing happened. Once every soldier is asleep, I enchant all chains securing prisoners to the pillars to snap in unison, allowing the prisoners to escape without injury."

Her talons were shaking as she grasped either end of the stick. She yanked down on either end, but it didn't break. "Ack." she said, and tried again. When that didn't work, she put it on the floor and stamped on it. That didn't work either.

"Uh... Glory?" Sunny asked, staring at the stick. "I think it's too short to be broken."

Glory let out a huge sigh. "Use your magic to break it or something."

"Oh. Right." Sunny said. She pointed at the stick and said: "Break."

As the stick snapped there was a moment of silence. Then, she heard it. The falling of dragons. She looked up in amazement, which turned into horror quickly. The SkyWing guards that were hovering some distance over the arena were falling to their deaths. "Catch them!" she cried at the sticks, which rose into the air at her command.

There was a sudden booming crack, that echoed throughout the arena. It sounded like then entire mountain was tearing apart. Everyone in the arena looked up.

Cracks were spreading up every rock column. Sunny realized with even more terror that the chains must have been partially holding each other together, so breaking them was too much of a strain on the rock. Or maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe she'd worded it wrong, gotten it all wrong like she always did. Huge boulders tore from the pillars and fell towards the audience. Sunny threw out her talons, willing the rocks to break, and they shattered into dust, harmless.

As she'd expected, the prisoners were fleeing. Scarlet shouted at her guards, all of whom refused to wake. She and Burn both looked furious, but also confused.

"Reveal me." Sunny said, and she reappeared.

"You're still here? What are you waiting for?" Glory asked, wrenching herself away from the tree with ease, the dainty silver chains snapping. "Go!"

The both of them glided down to land next to Clay and Peril, who were both frozen, watching the pillars crumble and the cloud of dragons escaping.

Tsunami had also joined them, she stood on the opposite side of Clay to Peril, eyeing her mistrustfully.

"I have so many questions," Tsunami said to Sunny and Glory. "But that's not important. Snap out of it, and let's go." She waved a talon in front of Clay's face, and he turned to her, blinking.

"I don't think so," Scarlet said, landing on the arena sands, Burn close behind her. She tipped her head, eyes narrowing. A chunk of rock landed by her talons and she crushed it without a second glance. "Peril. Kill them."

Chapter 29

Peril glanced at Clay, and then Sunny. Her face was conflicted. She turned back to Scarlet and Burn, Sunny spotting a slight tremor in Peril's claws as she took a step towards them. "No." She spread her gold-veined wings to create a barrier between the dragonets and the queens.

Scarlet's face became an instant furious scowl, and she stood to her full height, looming over Peril. "You are my champion. You DARE disobey me?"

Peril didn't back down - She knows that Scarlet can't get her out of the way. There are ways she could make her life more miserable, but she can't force Peril to move away from us, Sunny thought, feeling tingling relief mixing with looming fear - but instead stood her ground.

The chaos was dying down as the last of the pillars fell with booming thuds that echoed throughout her skull. She couldn't remember how many heartbeats it had been, but it wouldn't be many more till the guards woke up.

"You will do as I say," Scarlet ordered.

Peril responded by advancing, one talon outstretched for Scarlet. The SkyWing queen backed up with a slight yelp, and Sunny saw the glee in Peril's eyes.

"Peril," Clay said in a quiet voice. "Let's just go."

"You know we won't get far," Tsunami hissed at him. "Just let her kill them."

"I don't think she has to. Besides, killing a queen and a candidate for the SandWing throne would cause more harm than good."

Tsunami squinted at him, before snapping angrily, "Are you feeling ok? You sound like Starflight. Making no sense and sounding like you are."

He shook his head calmly, and Sunny wasn't sure what that was an answer to. But he seemed to sway Peril's decision as she folded in her wings and gave Scarlet a fierce look. She returned to her position at Clay's side.

"We'll be leaving now," Tsunami said.

Scarlet said nothing, but the thick smoke wreathing her head (that Sunny couldn't even see Burn's reaction through) said enough.

Then they all took off into the sky, apart from Sunny who blinked in surprise before leaping after them. She didn't get any opportunity to gain altitude, as strong talons wrapped around her tail, holding her back. The claws dug in and she winced, knowing they were drawing blood. As she struggled, she saw that the talons belonged to Burn.

As her panicking mind fell to anything that could get her out of this situation, she thought she saw spots of black - like ink, almost - spray gently onto Burn's talons. Like with that IceWing... a corner of her mind said. Then, her eyes fell to Scarlet, whose face was almost covered in patches of a similar sort of liquid. She would've questioned it more had her tail not been flaring up with pain. She writhed, beating her wings as hard as she could to pull away.

And that was when the talons released her. As she shot away, she saw Burn clutch at her wrists as they began to smoke. She didn't get to see anything else but a blur and what sounded like screaming but she couldn't hear properly - she couldn't hear through the wind in her ears - before she was yanked away by blue talons and a hurried "Come on!"

Her head spun as they flew, lifting away rapidly and off towards wherever they were going next - she didn't know. She couldn't focus. What was that black liquid? Why was everyone looking at each other like that? Had they figured her out?

She glanced back to see the guards had woken up and some were in hot pursuit. Behind them she could just about make out the faint blobs of Scarlet and Burn, who were surrounded by SkyWings. That acid had caused some damage to them... but how severe was it? What exactly did it even do to them? What it did to Clay's opponent? It seemed like the same stuff, and if it was that means it had been Glory who-

All these were questions she should ask the others. But not while they were being chased by SkyWing guards. With a sliver of an almost remorse-like feeling, she spoke to the wind in a voice that sounded - she realized with a twisted hint of amusement - almost broken, "I enchant the mist to rise and block our pursuers view of us, so we can escape safely." The white clouds obeyed her command, and soon the dragons were completely gone from view.

As they circled in to land at the base of the rushing waterfall, she noted that everyone had a completely different expression. Tsunami's was defensive and on edge - she held one of her talons awkwardly and Sunny figured she might have twisted it in pulling her away from Burn's grasp. Clay looked mainly worried, leaning towards Peril who looked a mixture between confused and determined. Glory's expression was blank, but her scales were boiling mixtures of red and black.

"Are you all ok?" Clay said, stepping forwards.

"Barely." Tsunami responded, inclining her head at Sunny. "Burn nearly got her. Is your tail ok, Sunny?"

Sunny lifted her tail to examine it, holding it so they could also have a look at it. It had claw-like grooves in either side of it, bleeding slightly. It didn't hurt all that much but she suspected once the adrenaline wore out she would reconsider. "It feels fine." she said quietly.

Tsunami shot Clay a look, completely ignoring Peril. Sunny's heart seized, They do know about me, but what Tsunami said next was not targeted at her.

"Glory. What in the three moons was that?" Tsunami said, her voice suddenly full of shock.

"What was what?" Glory said, half-sarcastically, in a way that said: 'I know exactly what you're talking about but I'm messing with you because it's funny.'

"You know exactly what I mean." Tsunami rolled her eyes, irritated.

"I don't know. Something I only recently found out how to do." She shrugged. "That's not important though. Are we all just not going to talk about how the arena imploded?" She cast a sideways glance at Sunny, and Sunny felt dread begin to creep into every muscle.

Is she setting me up? Does she want me to tell them, or is she giving me an opportunity to cover my tracks and play along? she thought, putting on an expression that matched everyone else's. She only hoped it didn't look suspicious.

Chapter 30

She listened uncomfortably as the dragonets discussed what could've happened.

"If only Starflight was here..." Clay said. "He would probably know what it is and explain it to us."

"Maybe it was something to do with the NightWings?" Tsunami suggested, looking at Clay.

"Yes!" Clay said, his face lighting up hopefully. "Maybe they decided to destroy the arena as a show of power - and to set us free."

"You wish." Glory said. "If they really wanted to show off, they would've stuck around to do it. But that would make sense - sort of." Her forehead wrinkled in thought. "But why wouldn't they be around to see Scarlet's reaction?"

"Maybe it was accidental?" Sunny piped up, hoping her voice didn't squeak. She stood up a bit taller in the hope they'd take her at least a tiny bit seriously. "Maybe they didn't mean to destroy the arena, and it was just a side effect of them coming to rescue Starflight?"

"That's a stupid idea, Sunny. NightWings aren't that amazing and magical. No dragon would ever have the power to do that, just because they're a NightWing." Tsunami said over her shoulder, and Sunny recoiled, wounded. Tsunami turned back to the other two and continued discussing.

All while the dragonets had been debating what happened in the arena (though two of them already knew), Peril had been sitting at the edge of the group, running her talons through the stream. Whenever she touched the cool water, a bit of it evaporated into a small cloud of steam and she watched it dissipate.

"Hey," Sunny said, sitting down next to her.

Peril blinked in surprise, turning her head to look at Sunny. "Hello."

"That was brave, what you did back there," Sunny said. "Standing up to Scarlet." She nodded. There was a pause. "I don't think I could've," she finished awkwardly.

"Hah," Peril snorted, still paddling her claws through the flow of water, small clouds of steam rising from where she touched it. "I get what you're trying to say. It was... easier than I thought it would be. After everything she's told me to do... I feel like I should make my own choices for once. I could never kill Clay." She looked down at her claws. "Or you," she added quickly.

Sunny laughed. She wasn't sure if it was a subconscious attempt of hers to lighten the mood, but it certainly caused Peril to smile. "It's ok. We're safe now, and we're going to rescue Kestrel and Dune."

"Dune?" Peril said, confused. "Who is Dune?"

"You know who Kestrel is?" Sunny asked. This was one of the things she'd been meaning to ask her. Why had Scarlet said Peril wanted to fight for Kestrel, of all dragons?

"Yes," Peril said sharply. "She's my mother."

"Oh," Sunny's eyes widened. "OH." A lot of things began to click together in her head. "I see now."

Peril gave her a sideways glance, and she couldn't tell if it was amusement or annoyance. "So, who is Dune?"

"Dune's one of the dragons who took raised us along with Kestrel and another dragon," Sunny explained.

"Ah. Clay mentioned that," Peril said, slightly bitterly. Sunny wondered if harshness in her voice could've been down to the fact Kestrel spent a lot of her time raising other dragonets, or something else maybe.

"Hey guys!" Clay said, waving his talon towards them in a beckoning manner. "We've got some ideas on how we rescue Kestrel and Dune."

As she and Peril joined Clay's side, he folded his wings to allow them to fit in, Sunny noticing how Peril stayed back so as to avoid accidentally brushing the others, but still very much at Clay's side.

"So, this is what we've decided so far." Tsunami said. "Clay and Glory will go and get the guardians together. Since Glory can camouflage and Clay is a MudWing, they'll both be best suited for the job of sneaking in and getting out alive. Sunny and Peril, you will stay here as you're both the most recognizable, and I will..." her eyes drifted to Peril. "Stay guard and wait for Glory and Clay to return."

Sunny understood Tsunami's points, but part of her wanted to go with Glory instead of Clay. She could use her magic to protect everyone, but then wouldn't she have to explain herself? She wanted to keep them safe... but they would never listen to her anyway.

She would just have to cast a safeguarding spell then. Her eyes drifted to her talons as Glory and Clay wandered out of the cave. She lifted up a rock and studied it for a moment. I enchant Glory and Clay to be invisible to any SkyWing soldiers as they travel into the SkyWing palace, and when they retrieve Kestrel and Dune, they will also be hidden from view. When they return, this spell will wear off. She put the rock down, satisfied. Peril gave her an odd look, one that said 'What was that about?' and then looked at the rock on the floor. Sunny shrugged, and then did a double take.

She glanced back at the rock. Wait... what did I even enchant? Did I enchant the rock or-

She looked up, but Clay and Glory had already vanished.

Ah well. I'm most likely tired. I'm pretty sure I enchanted the rock, she thought, lying down and trying to get comfy on the rough stone. She could tell Peril had some questions, but she couldn't explain, not with Tsunami just outside the cave and within earshot. She really wanted to tell her friends about her magic, but the more dragons that knew, the more likely someone she didn't trust would find out. Like Morrowseer, or Burn, or Scarlet.

She watched as Peril glanced at the cave entrance, presumably at Tsunami. Then, she too lay down - though it looked more like a half-collapse to Sunny - and tucked her head under one wing, away from everything else. Within a few minutes, she could hear the SkyWing's breathing steady out and figured she was falling into a deep sleep. Sunny felt tempted to do the same, but knew Tsunami would yell at her if she dared doze off, so instead she hauled herself to her talons and went to go talk to her instead.

Part 3

Chapter 31

Glory and Clay returned with Dune and Kestrel after what felt like years. Sunny looked up as the four dragons landed at the mouth of the cave. Peril got to her talons, eyes meeting Kestrel.

"I thought you were dead," Peril said.

"I thought you were dead," Kestrel said, sounding not quite as happy as Sunny expected. But then, this was Kestrel. What emotions could she possibly have apart from apathy, anger, annoyance and fury?

As Tsunami greeted Clay and Glory, Sunny turned to Dune.

"You're all alive," he said, and for once there was a hint of worry in his voice. He stepped forwards, and Sunny could see he still wasn't used to walking without a limp. She thought back to when she'd cast the spell to heal him, how she hadn't really thought it would heal his scars, just the ones Scarlet had inflicted. "How did you survive?" he asked.

"I have no idea." Sunny said, watching as Kestrel and Peril talked to one another. She could faintly hear Clay explaining what happened while they were out retrieving the guardians. "We had help," she elaborated, nodding at Peril after Dune have her a disbelieving look.

"Hmm," he said. "Have you seen Webs?"

"Not since we ran away from you-" she said, stopping herself before she could apologize. She wasn't apologizing for anything, if they'd stayed there they would have all been killed by Scarlet's soldiers.

Dune, as if noticing this, looked at her quizzically. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you."

Sunny shrugged, slightly confused. I don't think I have, have I?

She looked over at Peril and Kestrel, and they both looked tense. They'd stopped talking, and were instead regarding each other with mild hostility. What happened between them?

She turned to the cave entrance, where the three other dragonets were talking amongst themselves.

"...It was like they couldn't even see us! It was really strange..." she heard Clay say to Tsunami. As she wandered up, Clay noticed her. "Oh! Hey Sunny!"

"Hello," she said. "What are you talking about?"

"Ah nothing. Just some weird things happening on the rescue mission." Glory said, meeting Sunny's eyes directly. The glint in her eyes was vaguely suspicious.

"Ok." Sunny nodded a little too enthusiastically, ignoring Glory's gaze. "What are we going to do now?"

The other dragonets looked at each other.

"Well we're right next to the Mud Kingdom so we thought Clay could go and find his family." Tsunami said and Clay nodded happily. "Also we might as well look out for Starflight on the way."

"Oh no you're not." Kestrel said, striding up to them, tail lashing. "You're coming back with us to the Talons of Peace. You've caused enough uproar already."

Tsunami bared her teeth, Glory rolled her eyes, and Dune walked up to join Kestrel's side. "It's for your own good," he said, nodding in agreement.

"Maybe you think you know." Tsunami said angrily, "But we escaped you once, we can do it again. We're free now whether you want us to be or not. And we're going to find our parents."

Kestrel bristled, smoke rising from her nostrils, and Sunny knew this was going to end in a fight. She knew someone had to intervene.

As she looked at the other dragonets, she saw Clay join Tsunami's side. Peril was watching Kestrel in a half-disbelieving manner, her eyes fixed on her mother. The arguing continued, back and forth, back and forth.

Sunny couldn't imagine what it must be like to finally meet your mother, and it turned out she was cruel and uncaring. She hoped sincerely that none of her friends' parents were like that. She hoped her own parents were nowhere like Kestrel.

"Know your place." she heard Kestrel shout. And then Kestrel hit Tsunami. The tension in the room exploded, and Sunny snapped towards the motion, alert, awake. Everyone was suddenly huge and terrifying. She saw Glory's scales flare bright red, frill puffing up with glaring ferocity. She saw Tsunami recoil, before attacking back. She saw Kestrel throw one talon out, stopping Tsunami in her tracks. She saw Tsunami get forced aside, into a wall. She saw that Dune was also on the attack. Everyone was fighting. How had it escalated this quickly?

Maybe we made a mistake rescuing them- maybe this was all a terrible idea- what if we're not cut out for everything- we're meant to be peacekeepers. She covered her head with her wings, terrified.

She could see Peril shouting at them to stop. She could see it wasn't working. She could see so much trouble, and if Glory used her venom-

She seized a rock. She had to stop this. This was her time to be the one who resolved the conflict, instead of standing by the side and letting others get hurt.

"I enchant this rock so that when I drop it, it will freeze everyone in this room in place for ten heartbeats, before allowing them to resume control over themselves. They will be able to think and will be aware of their surroundings throughout the ten heartbeats." she said in a shaky voice, talons shaking uncontrollably from adrenaline. "After they unfreeze, they will be unable to cause each other harm until we can either talk this out calmly and diplomatically, or the two parties are separated."

It was so terribly worded she worried for a few moments that once she dropped it, it would have no effect, or work differently to how she intended it. She heard the clatter on the floor, and then overwhelming, dead silence.

Chapter 32

Everyone was frozen in place. She let out a sigh of relief - the spell had really worked as she intended. She took her talons off her ears, glancing around at everyone's' expressions.

The echoes faded to a whisper and then nothingness as she counted using the beat of her own heart: 3... 2... 1...

If she hadn't been counting, she might have missed when they all moved again. The silence was still lingering, and she realised only two dragons had been facing her when she'd frozen them all - Tsunami and Dune.

Though maybe they'd both been frozen staring at someone else, not Sunny, so maybe her secret was still safe. Though, a she observed Tsunami's expression, she was maybe hoping too hard this time. But what did she expect?

"Sunny..." Tsunami said with shock in her eyes, fresh blood still dripping from her wounds. This was the first time Sunny had ever seen her display anything other than annoyance or slight contempt towards her.

She said nothing, knowing the fear was in her eyes and she knew she'd been impulsive but it had only been to stop everyone fighting. She saw from the corner of her eye Kestrel and Dune wearing vaguely confused (but overall still furious) expressions. She saw Clay looking plain confused, and she saw Glory's half-smug head tilt as she watched everyone else trying to figure out what she'd known since Sunny told her - and she saw Peril putting the pieces together.

"Alright fine." she blurted out. "That was me."

"You're an animus?" Tsunami asked quietly, quieter than she'd ever heard her be before.

"Yes." she said, nodding shyly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kestrel demanded. "Or Dune?"

Sunny shied away from her. "I didn't want to... I was hoping I could hide it and-" she stopped. She had no idea what to say. She'd ruined everything for herself again. She took a deep breath, trying to organise her thoughts.

"And what?" Kestrel hissed.

"I didn't want you to use me... I only found out a few days before we escaped, and even if I did tell anyone, it wouldn't have been you." she said, and then glanced briefly at Glory.

Kestrel growled, raising one talon ominously, but Dune put a talon on her shoulder. "Kestrel, she's a kid. She was scared."

Sunny looked over at him, not sure whether to feel grateful, in case there was something else he meant. It felt suspicious, but glad that Kestrel didn't hit her too.

But he said nothing else and as Kestrel backed off, she relaxed slightly, getting to her talons.

Now what? They're not just going to let us go... are they? she thought, looking around at the other dragonets and seeing they were still dealing with the news. Maybe we could all go to the Mud Kingdom together? MudWings and SkyWings are allies, so it's not as though bringing Kestrel - or Dune really - would be the biggest problem... well... Her eyes landed on Tsunami.

Sunny's brow furrowed and she thought. We're going to have to split up. We'd all be in danger if Tsunami came with into the Mud Kingdom. Glory... maybe not. I suppose she could camouflage herself or make herself look like a MudWing, but what would happen with the rest of us? I feel like Clay should have someone with him... and I don't think he'd want it to be either of the guardians-

Her thoughts were broken off by a sudden outburst from Tsunami's direction.

"I'm not trying to cause conflicts! I just don't think either of you should go with him. You wouldn't be any help anyway, you weren't the ones who found his egg." Tsunami said. "I think just me, Glory, Clay and Sunny should go. You can spend some quality time with your... daughter." she regarded Peril warily, and with a little distaste. Peril scowled back.

"Be quiet! What use would you be? You're an enemy of the MudWings, they would kill you on sight." Kestrel said, and Sunny found herself agreeing with her for possibly the first time - but then that was most likely because it reflected her own thoughts.

Allowing herself to take a break mentally from the distrust radiating from them, she cautiously made her way to the cave mouth, looking out. She inhaled through her nose, catching the scent of a hiding lizard, and she remembered how long it had been since she'd eaten. She briefly thought about attempting to catch it, before remembering she had other, more pressing matters at hand.

The sun was also beginning to set, not quite at the stage of lighting the sky on fire yet, but instead turning the far horizon a pale yellow hue. She was very tired too, she realised, but she couldn't afford to sleep now. Although the day had been very tiring and she was utterly exhausted from having to run away all the time. She folded her wings in, turning back into the cave where, judging by their demeanour, Kestrel and Tsunami seemed to have come to an agreement.

That would be a first. She thought, amused. I wonder why they're more relaxed all of a sudden. Maybe I was standing outside for longer than I thought...

Then, she had to get out of the way as Clay and Glory headed towards the exit. She watched as they took off, and then looked back at the others that were still in the cave. What in the three moons convinced Dune and Kestrel to let them go off on their own?

She rejoined the others, hearing Kestrel grumble about the stupidity of going off without 'any idea of what they're doing'. Peril looked sad, and Sunny figured that was because Clay was gone and nobody knew if he would be ok.

"Where are they going?" Sunny asked. It wasn't really a genuine question, more of a statement but phrased as a question. She knew where they were going, they were going to the Mud Kingdom.

Tsunami's response was as irritated as expected, "The Mud Kingdom, where else?" But she ignored the tone of voice and took it as confirmation.

Her eyelids drooped as fatigue set in. She realised that she probably should go to sleep, now that things were quiet and there wasn't anything needed of her. She made her way into a small cranny in the rock wall and half-collapsed down onto the cool stone, drifting into a peaceful slumber.

Chapter 33

She woke to find herself in the middle of a black-and-white landscape. She recognised it, though from where she couldn't quite place a talon on. There was a slight hue to everything, the charcoal grass beneath her talons wasn't completely grey, it had a pale tint of green to it. She ran a talon through it and it rustled.

She began to make her way up the slight slope, nose twitching at a sweet scent she couldn't quite smell. It wasn't really a scent, it was more the idea of one, as the deeper inhales she took through her nostrils weren't helping make it clearer. The trees that stretched far above her swayed slightly in a faint breeze she couldn't feel.

Gradually, as she wandered, she began to hear a faint trickle of a stream, somewhere off in the distance. It wasn't very big from the sounds of it, it didn't have the right kind of sound. She continued to amble through the peaceful forest, trees casting deep shadows that reminded her of claw marks.

A flicker of light caught her eye and she spun around, looking around for the source. Her eyes fell on a small lilac flame-like wisp, flickering cheerfully in the air a few steps in front of her. Her ears pinned back and up, and she became increasingly aware that this wasn't reality. She was most definitely dreaming.

But still, she was wary as she approached. Every heartbeat in her chest coincided with the pulse of the flame as she circled it. It seemed to pivot with her, as though watching her.

She recognised this flame now, she'd seen it in previous dreams. Now that she neared it, she found it radiated calmness and relaxation - just faintly, but enough to make her feel safer. She reached out one talon tentatively, to brush against the light.

Immediately, the entire scene was bathed glorious purple, and she shut her eyes instinctively. When she opened them again, she saw that the landscape had changed. No longer did it look like a miserable scene of ashy greyness and desolation, but alive with colours. Although it was still a little desaturated, many colours had returned and she realised that the flame had gone. She glanced around, her golden scales shimmering in the new sunlight. It wasn't brighter than any other day in the real world, but to her it felt magical.

As her mind revelled in this brilliant feeling of peace she'd never felt before, she couldn't help but wonder what it all meant. Was it her own brain coming up with the purple flame, that whenever she touched it in her dreams she'd feel better? Or was it her magic? Or maybe was it another animus who knew about her secret and was trying to mess with her? She brushed that last thought off as it was too paranoid and she wanted to keep the blissful feeling of maybe, just maybe, understanding herself more.

The fire flickered across her vision again, its calming presence wafting around her. She found herself laughing, grinning from ear to ear, and as it moved she followed, bounding after it. Where's it taking me? Or rather, where am I taking me?

She wound her way through the trees, keeping up with the fire. It wasn't difficult to, it kept at a good pace and slowed when she needed to navigate around a particularly large tree or boulder. The grassy path shimmered with dew, and ferns cropped up every now and then, which she sailed over easily.

Birds flew overhead, though the bright sunlight blurred their outlines so she couldn't tell what colour they were.

Emerging into a clearing, she suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of something is wrong here. It came so suddenly she stumbled and tripped, landing less-than-gracefully at the foot of a small hill. As she got to her feet, she looked up to see something stood at the top.

It looked like it was made of ink.

She took two horrified steps back as the black dragon looked down at her. Behind it, there were huge cracks formed in the air, as if there was glass or ice behind the creature, but there wasn't - the air itself was broken. The lilac flame hovered just out of reach of it, and if Sunny had to guess, it didn't want to get any closer than she did.

"What are you?" she asked - if this was her then she could fix it, couldn't she? Her voice made no noise, but it didn't have to.

She was expecting a verbal response, but instead the creature beckoned, a singular motion of the talon. She was instantly thrown forwards, pain spiking through her mind as she fumbled to cling onto the rock as she unwillingly joined the dragon's side. She looked up at it, terrified.

It still said nothing, gazing at her with endless lilac eyes. It turned its head to the cracks and then puckered and warped, melting into it, gradually fading away until she was alone on the rock. Confusion warred with fear as she looked up at the splinters. What was going on?

The lilac flame was by her side, as she looked up to where the figure had vanished. What does this all mean?

A quiet voice in the back of her mind chimed out, saying something but she couldn't make out what, before she was shaken into reality by strong blue claws and an urgent voice.

"Sunny, wake up."

Chapter 34

She groggily opened her eyes to see Tsunami's stern face looking down at her.

"Wha...?" Sunny said, rubbing her face.

"Sunny!" Tsunami grinned, but it wasn't a happy grin. "I need your help."

"What?" Sunny said, Tsunami's blurry outline coming into focus. "What's going on? Why?" As she was pulled to her feet, the world slowly sharpened around her, and she saw that they were alone in the cave. "Where are the others?"

"Kestrel and Peril left together for who knows where, and Dune went to go look for Clay and Glory." Tsunami said, a look of worry on her face - something Sunny hadn't seen much before. "They've been way too long."

"What?!" Sunny exclaimed. "How long have I been asleep?"

"I'm not sure." Tsunami scratched her head and fiddling with the webs between her claws. "But whatever, I kinda hoped they'd be back by now. Dune said he'd be back by sunset with them and the sun's been down for a while. I hoped..." she glanced down. "You could use your magic? Just to check if they're ok?"

Sunny was taken aback. She'd never heard Tsunami sound so concerned about anyone before, apart from maybe when they were going to escape their original home but the SeaWing never been quite this open in front of her before. "Of course!" she said. "I'd do anything to help them."

She glanced around for something she could enchant, and seeing nothing she raised one talon and said, "Give me a map of Pyrrhia."

A scroll landed next to her, not in her talons like she'd expected. She let out a short laugh and picked it up, unrolling it fully. Tsunami's expression was one of mild awe - as though she was impressed, but trying to hide it.

Looking at the lines she realised it was too big and wouldn't tell them nearly enough they needed. She sighed and spread her talon over it, causing the features around and in the Sky and Mud Kingdom to enlarge and push all of the other kingdoms out of view. She spoke aloud again, "Show us the exact location of Dune, and where Glory and Clay are in relation."

A sand-coloured spot appeared somewhere over the mountains, and to her relief the brown and green spots that represented Clay and Glory were directly alongside it. "They're together." she said to Tsunami, who nodded - relief spreading across her face. And then her brow furrowed.

"Why are they all the way over there?" Tsunami said. "That's not the Mud Kingdom, or anywhere in between here. That's the Sky Kingdom." She traced a claw across the map, indicating the distance between parts of the MudWing Kingdom and generally where Sunny and Tsunami might be.

Sunny frowned, thinking for a bit. Then it hit her. "Maybe they're in trouble!" she said, feeling sudden chills shudder through her at this realisation. She looked up at Tsunami for confirmation. "Right? They could be in trouble!"

Tsunami nodded, regarding Sunny with something that looked like mild respect. "Then it's a good thing we've got this map. Do you know where we are on this?"

Sunny's heart lifted at the first inkling of a complement she felt she'd ever had from the SeaWing. "No, but I can make us visible on this." She said eagerly, turning to speak to the scroll, waving one talon over it as she said: "Show us where we are."

Two dots - one golden and one blue - appeared on the outskirts of the Mud Kingdom, just south of the Diamond Spray Delta.

Tsunami squinted at the map, and then took it out of Sunny's talons to have a closer look. "They're not very far away, if we fly now we could catch them-" she stopped mid sentence to glance out of the cave, checking the time. "Before sunrise." The moons were pretty much at the peak of their ascent, so that would give them half the night to search for the others.

If they're even still alive for that long... Sunny thought, before shaking herself. No, they were alive and she had magic. That was more than enough to guarantee everyone survived.

"Then what are we waiting for?" she said confidently, looking up and out over the shadowy marshlands and the distant mountains. "Let's go save them."

Chapter 35

They flew swiftly and Sunny was grateful it was so dark. Despite her golden scales and Tsunami's faintly glowing blue ones, the darkness of night was keeping them well-hidden from anyone that might be watching out for them. They flew low to the ground, mostly to avoid staying in the moonlight and keeping out of the chilling wind currents that were picking up above their heads.

Every so often, they would stop and check the map to make sure they were heading in the right direction. Now that Sunny landed in the shade of a tree to check it again, she noticed the spots were definitely in another place, perhaps further north in the direction of the SkyWing Palace which gave way to the terrifying realisation they may have been caught. Though, wouldn't they fight back if they had been discovered by soldiers? Part of her hoped they had successfully outpaced any pursuers and were heading back to where Sunny and Tsunami were, but another part of her wasn't so hopeful.

Still, at least that meant they could be heading towards each other.

Tsunami glanced over her shoulder, and she raised the map up. Tsunami studied it, and then looked up out off the small hill they were standing on towards the rolling green of the grassy plateau, roughly in the direction of where the map indicated the others were.

Sunny could feel the tiredness creep in, even though she'd only woken up a few minutes before. It was most likely down to how much running away and running around and the mental toll of the stress and the use of her magic and-

She exhaled. She was getting worked up and that would make her more tired. Besides, her eyes were beginning to make out a group of 3 dragons somewhere to the right of where she and Tsunami flew - by the looks of it two MudWings and a SandWing. Are those the others? They don't seem to have any escorts. Maybe that means there was no trouble after all.

She looked up to Tsunami whose face was set with determination.

"Tsunami!" she called up. She tipped her wings to glide up so she could be level with the SeaWing. "Look over there!" They both came to a stop, and Sunny pointed. Tsunami followed her claw and she caught sight of the group.

"It looks like they're alone." Tsunami said, with a hint of suspicion in her voice. "Hmm." Without another word, she pivoted, strong wing muscles flapping towards the group. Sunny did a double take, before going to follow.

As they neared, Sunny could make out the gait of the dragons. She could see the SandWing - most definitely Dune at this point - flew like he was struggling, like he wasn't quite steady on his wings. The other two were much smaller, though the larger of the two brown dragons was most likely Clay, with the more lithe figure being Glory.

Suddenly, one of the dragons looked up in their direction and she heard a cry of surprise, and then they sped up. Sunny recognised that as Clay, and sped up too.

"Clay!" she yelled. She swooped down onto the crest of a hill, and he landed too. She hugged him. Glory landed a second after, and then the thump of Tsunami's talons resounded behind her. Sunny took a step back to allow Tsunami to hug Clay too, less affectionately but still cementing the fact she had been very worried about whether they were in danger or not.

Sunny went to take out the map again, but found her claws were empty. Ah well, we've found them so it wouldn't be much use anyway. It'll probably drift away into a lake or tear itself apart anyway.

"How did being in the Mud Kingdom go?" Sunny asked Clay excitedly. "Did you meet your parents? Were they nice?"

Clay suddenly looked sad, though some happiness did remain in his eyes. "I'll tell you about it later. For now I'm hungry, I haven't eaten in ages."

Sunny wondered why his face fell then, but she laughed and elbowed him, "You're always hungry! Yes, let's go catch something and then we can talk about everything."

Her eyes drifted over to Dune who was stood further back from the group, a disapproving look in his eyes. "Don't dawdle. Catch something quickly, we don't want a repeat of what happened only a few minutes ago." He gave Glory and Clay a hard look, and Clay looked uncomfortable. Sunny was confused, but then figured she'd hear about what happened once they sat down to eat together.

The distant horizon that stretched over the sea was beginning to ripple with faint firelight, like someone just beyond it was lighting a campfire and fanning the flames into pale streaks across a deep blue carpet. She looked out on it, and then joined the other dragonets in venturing into the nearby cluster of trees to look for food.

Chapter 36

She joined the rest of the group, the lizard she'd just caught in her mouth. She sat in between Clay and Glory, dropping the lizard to the floor and turning her head so she could look up at Clay. He looked a little sad, but there was a glint of joy in his eyes. His posture still carried tension, presumably from whatever had happened earlier.

She twined her tail around his and he glanced down at her in surprise. She smiled, and he smiled back. Then he spoke, looking at Sunny and Tsunami: "Soo uh.. about what happened. Yeah we made it to the Mud Kingdom fine and I met my mother."

Sunny's face lit up but he didn't look so enthused. "So? What was it like meeting her?"

He glanced down at his talons and Glory gave Sunny a look. "Oh..." Sunny said. It obviously hadn't been the exciting reunion for him that they'd all dreamed of back in the cave.

"She sold my egg to the Talons of Peace for two cows." he said bluntly. "She didn't seem to particularly care about me or how I'd been."

"Aww Clay." Tsunami said, her face sympathetic as she placed one wing on his in comfort. He smiled up at her gratefully. Sunny did the same, though she wasn't quite as tall as Tsunami or Clay so it was a little more difficult.

He shifted, and his face lit up a little. "I did meet some of my siblings though. And they were much better than Cattail by a lot." He grinned. "They explained a lot of things to me about being a MudWing. As it turns out, we don't live with our parents but instead as troops of sibs - siblings that all grow up together with a bigwings to lead them. The bigwings is the oldest, and they lead the troop and help their other sibs out of their eggs when they hatch. I would've been the bigwings, but because my egg didn't hatch there Reed was the bigwings. Which explains why I 'attacked' your eggs, I wasn't trying to hurt you I was trying to help you guys!"

"Of course." Tsunami said. "I never thought you were trying to kill us."

"As if you would ever!" Sunny agreed, bumping his wing with hers. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dune's brow furrow in what appeared to be mild annoyance, though she wasn't entirely sure.

And then Glory spoke up, "...And then as we were heading back to you, a SkyWing patrol ambushed us. They probably followed Dune, but we're not sure. But it's ok, we're all fine now and nobody got hurt." She sat up, before wincing and rubbing her shoulder. "Well, I may have pulled a muscle or two."

"Well I hope you're in good enough shape to fly." Dune rumbled. "The sun's rising so we can begin to look for the Talons of Peace now."

"Oh no, there's no way we're going with you to the Talons of Peace. They've made our lives a misery as it is." Tsunami responded without missing a beat. "Besides, what about Starflight? We know he went with Morrowseer but we haven't seen any sign of him since. We can't possibly-"

She was cut off by a yell and a thump in the trees behind them. Everyone in the group whipped round towards the noise, and Sunny saw a black shape emerge from the bushes.

"There he is!" she cried happily. "Starflight!"

Starflight shook his head as if clearing it of fog and looked up at them. He stumbled a little but regained his posture quickly. "Sunny!" He looked at the rest of the group too, beaming.

Sunny heard Tsunami shout something behind her, though it wasn't directed at her, but more at the sky. That was probably aimed at Morrowseer, or whoever had dropped Starflight off.

Sunny looked back to see Dune watching the gradually disappearing dark shapes in the sky with a thoughtful expression. Then she turned back to Starflight, choosing to bombard him with all of the questions that had been circulating in her brain since he landed. "How are you? What were you doing this whole time? You so missed our epic escape from the Sky Palace, you should have seen it! What has Morrowseer said to you?"

Starflight held up his talons helplessly, "Woah woah, too many questions." He smiled at her. "I wanted him to bring me back straight away but he wouldn't. He said they couldn't afford to lose any NightWings, even..." he paused, "...Even peculiar little ones."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Clay said.

"You're not peculiar!" Sunny said. "I'm the one that's peculiar and little!"

Dune raised his wings suddenly, causing them to fall silent. "Keep your voices down. Scarlet could have patrols anywhere and your squawking is a surefire way to get noticed by them." Sunny feared he was angry but he looked more thoughtful than anything. Dune turned slightly to glance again at Morrowseer's disappearing shape.

What's he thinking? Sunny thought. He looks like he really wants to follow after him, but maybe feels like he needs to stay with us to protect us.

Her thoughts were answered when Dune said: "Stay here. I know you probably won't..." he glared at all of them (especially Tsunami, Sunny noticed) but continued, "But please, stay. I need to go and ask some questions... I won't be long, hopefully." He glanced back at the dark shapes among the clouds.

Sunny nodded, showing that she understood so maybe he would feel better about leaving them.

And with that, Dune turned and flew off into the sky as fast as he could, vanishing swiftly with slightly lopsided wingbeats.

Sunny turned back to the other dragonets. Glory looked a little dumbfounded but her scales were plain and unrevealing.

"That was unexpected." She remarked, watching his vanishing shape curiously.

"Yeah..." Clay said, also watching.

"Enough about that!" Tsunami said impatiently. "We're right near the Sea Kingdom and we don't have to worry about Dune hovering over us all the time. What do you say we go and try to find my parents?"

Sunny felt a little guilty about leaving Dune, especially after he'd asked sincerely that they stay. But Tsunami was impossible to persuade otherwise once she'd set her mind on something... well unless you were Clay, Sunny supposed. She'd just have to follow along, maybe use her magic to tell Dune where they'd gone so he wouldn't get worried.

She picked up a rock, conscious of how the other dragonets were beginning to walk in the direction of the coast. She cast a quick spell, placed the rock down and then joined the group, lifting into the cool, clear, brightening sky and towards the salty scent of the ocean.

Epilogue

Despite how cold the mountains were, you couldn't argue that the valleys between them were sometimes the worst to fly through.

The SkyWing tilted his pale orange wings towards the morning light, rising above the faint mist to glide just across the top of it. He dipped his shallowly every so often to maintain his altitude. With each wingbeat, the pouch that was wrapped around his neck thumped lightly against his scales.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind caught him and he had to steady himself, the water droplets from the clouds he was passing through momentarily fogging his vision. Dumb mountainous territory... It never gets this windy anywhere else. When he blinked and wiped his eyes, he caught the glimpse of something small and beige fly past him. He stopped in midair, glancing around uncertainly before spotting a limp bit of yellowed paper fluttering away in the opposite direction to the way he was travelling.

He had to get to the SkyWing palace by sunrise, but that time had already passed and what could one more delay do to his journey? So, he allowed his curiosity to take a hold and he followed after it with swift wingbeats, grabbing it from the current it was trapped.

Hah, good thing I'm a SkyWing. I may not have caught up to it that easily otherwise, He thought to himself. He opened up the paper to see a map of Pyrrhia sprawled across it. Nothing unusual... His eyes narrowed, and then fell on three blobs of different colours - brown, light yellow and green, positioned in the land somewhere between the Sky Kingdom and the Mud Kingdom. At first he thought they were just stains, but as he rubbed them and they didn't fade, be brought the parchment up to study it closer. The dots appeared to be... moving. What is this? he thought to himself. Is this enchanted somehow? Or am I just losing my mind?

One talon absent-mindedly fell to his pouch, and then he lifted it off again. Hmm. Well a map of Pyrrhia is always useful. I just wonder if I'll be able to fit it in the pouch alongside the other scroll I already have in there.

His gaze fell back to the distant Sky Palace and he decided he probably shouldn't delay much longer. He'd left Queen Scarlet waiting long enough. He rolled it up as tightly as he could and stuffed it into the pouch next to the black scroll he already had in there. Turning his eyes to his destination, he proceeded on his journey swiftly, allowing any thought of the map he'd just found. After all, he'd probably lose it or chuck it at some point, well, if he didn't figure out what those dots meant.