Wings of Fire 1: The Hidden Secret

~Chapter 14~

Moonflower had grown to like the kind MudWing, in the last few days she'd travelled with him. Squelch was kind, and protective, though he didn't seem to really enjoy killing and fighting as much as Fierceclaws did.

When Moonflower turned around to see who Squelch had been looking at, she saw Fierceclaws's dark shape perched on the pillar behind her. Fierceclaws's face was worried, and her thoughts said that she wanted to go down and fight for Squelch. Fierceclaws and Squelch had known each other for years, and Moonflower knew that they were best friends.

But then both Moonflower and Fierceclaws had to watch Squelch die right in front of them. For one thing, Squelch was in a prophecy and therefore if he died, Pyrrhia would be doomed. If he was the 'wings of plain earth'. Moonflower's instincts told her to go down there and fight alongside Squelch, and she guessed that Fierceclaws felt the same.

"On the far side," the red SkyWing announced. "we have Toadstool of the MudWings! And on the other...it's Egret of the MudWings!"

The SkyWing roared and spread their wings. Moonflower copied them cautiously, hoping that nobody would see that she'd only done it a moment after the SkyWings had.

"Claws up, teeth ready, FIGHT!" the announcer roared. The SkyWings howled as Egret leapt onto Squelch. Squelch tired to doge to the side, but Egret was ready. The light brown MudWing twisted around to pin Squelch to the ground.

"NO!" Fierceclaws's voice shrieked. "DON'T HURT SQ — TOADSTOOL!"

A few of the SkyWings around Moonflower rolled their eyes or hissed in annoyance. In the arena, Egret was clawing at Squelch's snout with Squelch writhed in pain below him.

"NO!" Fierceclaws threatened again, but louder this time. "YOU CAN'T HURT TOADSTOOL! I'LL KILL YOU ALL IF YOU DO!"

Moonflower saw Garnet sigh and roll her eyes. Moonflower looked back down at Squelch, and realised that this was the time to escape the SkyWing palace. But how could they help Squelch? They had to stop Egret from killing him before they ran away. They couldn't just leave Squelch to die. Moonflower's gaze drifted from Squelch and Egret to the dragon behind her.

Aha.

Hoping that nobody knew what she was doing, Moonflower flew up to Fierceclaws's pillar. The SeaWing-NightWing-IceWing hybrid was biting and clawing at her bounds, but her extra-sharp teeth and claws didn't make a mark in the metal.

"Shhhhhh," Moonflower hissed at Fierceclaw's turned her hostile gaze to Moonflower. "It's me."

Moonflower turned her ruff blue and Fierceclaws relaxed, though she was still tense. She settled down again as Moonflower opened her black pouch and took the prison keys out. She hoped that they did work on the pillar jails. If they didn't...then Squelch had no hope.

Moonflower swept her tongue over her venomous fangs. She could kill Egret herself, if she couldn't set Fierceclaws free. But she felt like Fierceclaws had to save Squelch. Moonflower tried the first key on Fierceclaws's bounds. Nothing happened. She tried the next key. Still nothing happened.

She tried the next key, and the next, and the next. None of the fit in the keyhole.

"Try this one," Fierceclaws suggested, pointing to a key that had an odd eye-shaped symbol printed on it. Fierceclaws pointed at her bounds, and Moonflower realised that they had the same symbol in them.

Moonflower looked down at the arena. So far, no SkyWings had spotted her. But Squelch had several more wounds down his side. He wasn't pinned under Egret anymore, but Egret had him cornered at the side of the arena.