Fire and Ash

Prologue

Kestrel never thought she would have dragonets. 

Actually, she never thought she'd even meet a dragon she'd want to have dragonets with, let alone actually have them. 

Just keep flying, she reminded herself. Just keep going. Don't let Scarlet hurt the only thing that's ever made you happy. 

The rust-colored SkyWing felt her massive egg give a little jump. With a yelp, Kestrel fumbled with it for barely second before getting her grip again, although those moments were possibly the most terrifying of her life. 

It's going to hatch soon, she realized. With one last sweep of the landscape behind her to make sure no one had realized she'd run away, the SkyWing dragoness dove, pulling up at the last moment and landing neatly, curling herself around her egg on the riverbank. 

If this egg hatches what they think it's going to hatch, she thought, will the dragonets inside even be worth saving? She shook off that thought. That was a bad thought. I'll love them both anyway. Fire or no fire or too much fire, I'll love them the same. 

She thought for a moment. I'll name them Ardent and Ember. 

Suddenly there was a sharp crack. And another. And another. Crack. Craack. Crrrk. Tap tap tap. Crack. Shatter. 

Kestrel jumped back just as the firescales dragonet's wing brushed against her side. With a yelp of pain, the SkyWing used her wing to splash some cooling water onto it, and the brief, hot pain quickly subsided. 

With fearful golden eyes, Kestrel looked at her newfound dragonets. But as soon as the haze of pain cleared from her mind, she felt her wings relax. 

Oh, they're beautiful. 

One was the color of faded sunsets painted on wool. He had pale blue eyes, like the sky, and they were full of curiosity. His wings were a violent crimson red, a color so stunning Kestrel didn't think she'd ever seen it before, even in the blood spilled from the prisoners Scarlet tortured in her arena. 

I can never go back, she realized. I can never, ever let Scarlet touch a scale on my beautiful dragonets as long as I live. It'll kill me to watch her do that to them. 

But the other dragonet was what really took Kestrel's breath away. She had stunning, shimmering, molten copper and gold and crimson scales, and her eyes were like the sky doused in fire. She had a ferocity to her, and she had... her wing... wrapped around her brother...

But he wasn't turning into a pile of ash. Ember wasn't bursting into flames. He just sat there, smiling at his mother and his sister. 

She can't burn him, Kestrel realized. That's amazing.

Suddenly wingbeats filled the air. Kestrel tented a wing over her dragonets, crouching into a battle stance. They will not hurt my dragonets, she repeated in her head, over and over again. I won't let Scarlet ruin their lives. I can't. I won't. 

"Kestrel, Kestrel, Kestrel," a patronizing voice filled the air and slid into the rust-colored SkyWing's ears. "What an... unpleasant surprise, finding you here." Queen Scarlet slithered into view, eyeing her talons (which were covered in mud from the river) in disgust. The SkyWing queen's sharp yellow eyes flicked back to her prey, and then to each of the dragonets. 

"How disappointing," said the queen with a theatrical sigh, "that you'd disobey my orders. You ran away with the dratted egg instead of doing the proper, polite thing and dropping it off a cliff or shattering it instead. You know, Kestrel, I could've just had one of my guards do it. You never even had to see the little monsters' faces." Queen Scarlet smiled, spreading her wings. They were a shade of scarlet only slightly less saturated than Ember's.