Wings of Fire #1: Sahara's Destiny

Chapter 19

As Sahara prepared for her fight, her friends warned her about different dangers that she should watch out for. Even though she had told them it wasn't going to be an actual fight, just a distraction. But they didn't listen. Sometimes, even Bluejay would pitch in and give her his own advice.

Sahara could see the arena from the prisons and saw dragons filling the bleachers. She could even see the green scales of Algae's sister, Seastar. Lavender peered out and sighed. "Alright, Zodiac, time to go."

The NightWing growled softly and snorted. Zodiac put one wing over Sahara's back and smiled. "We're counting on you." she said. "But, we know you'll do great. So, no worries." Sahara nodded and before long, both Lavender and Zodiac were in the sky. Soon after, Hail shot after them, as if he was never injured. That jellyfish really did heal him fast. Sahara thought in astonishment.

Now, it was only her, Vulcan, and Bluejay. Falcon was pacing around with his head down and his eyes closed. He seemed concerned that their plan might fail. But, Sahara was certain that it wouldn't. If she had to know one thing about him, she knew that Falcon was one of the smartest dragons she's ever known.

"Falcon, it's going to be alright." Vulcan reassured. "Your plan will work perfectly."

Falcon looked over at him then ducked his head. His ears drooped and his tail dragged on the floor. "That's not what I'm worried about." he fretted. "I'm worried about what might happen down there. I'm scared that Pearl might do something I wasn't expecting, causing everything to go wrong. What if. . ." He stopped himself and sighed, realizing that listing possible ways everything could go wrong would only add to his anxiety. "You're right, I have nothing to worry about." He took a glance outside and watched as Queen Topaz and Pearl headed towards the highest part of the arena. Falcon exhaled and stared down at Sahara. "Time to shine." he grinned.

Bluejay went over to Vulcan and untied some of the copper wires. "I escort SkyWing,'' he declared.

Sahara dipped her head towards Falcon and he escorted her down to the arena. As they drew closer, Sahara felt knots beginning to form in her stomach. What if she doesn't do something right? What would happen if Topaz found out she was trying to escape?

Sahara shook the aching questions away and focused. She knew she wouldn't do anything wrong. When they reached the arena, she saw Algae, Canyon, and Quake sitting on the other side from Topaz and Pearl. Hail, Zodiac, Lavender, and Seastar sat beside them. Bluejay placed Vulcan with them and took a seat by Lavender. When the SkyWing queen saw them, she smiled at Falcon. He left Sahara and went over to another part of the arena and brought Fennec out. She was still in chains and had a miserable look on her face. Oh, Fennec, I'll help you soon. Just hang in there.

"Well, finally," Queen Topaz grinned. "You've been keeping my guests waiting. Have you been training?" Sahara glared up at the queen and lashed her tail.

"No?" Topaz answered. She shrugged and said, "Okay. Anyway, Pearl."

Pearl shot a dangerous look at Sahara and sneered. She shot out from the bleachers and landed only a few feet away from Sahara. She couldn't quite remember, but it looked as if Pearl had gotten taller. The SeaWing even looked more muscular than before. Sahara had to tilt her head up to look at Pearl and a slight shiver went down her back. Pearl hooked her claws into Sahara's chains and ripped them off. Sahara saw Falcon's eyes widen and he gulped.

"These won't be necessary." Pearl hissed. "I want to see how you are without them."

Big mistake. Sahara stepped back and glanced around at the crowd. All of them were anxious to see how the fight would turn out. By the looks on their faces, they were most likely rooting for Pearl. Only because she's bigger. Sahara thought bitterly. A SkyWing thing. The only dragons hoping Sahara would win were her friends, Fennec, and a few SandWings Topaz had.

"This will be a battle for your life," Raptor suddenly announced. Sahara knew he was talking to her. "Make this one memorable, good luck." Raptor leaped off his stand and joined the queen at the top bleachers.

Pearl began to stalk around Sahara and to entertain the crowd, she would suddenly dart at Sahara, making her jump. But she wouldn't attack and pulled back every time. She did it several times, trying to make Sahara nervous. Sahara glared at Pearl and when she darted at her again, Sahara scratched the side of her belly with her barbed tail. Pearl froze and she glanced at where she was struck.

"I'm done playing games, Pearl." Sahara chided.

Pearl's side suddenly healed and the SeaWing scoffed. She looked back at Sahara and lunged, so quick it caught Sahara off guard. Pearl tackled her and they rolled through the sand. Sahara pulled her hind legs up and pushed Pearl off of her and quickly got back to her feet. Pearl was faster, and by the time Sahara was up, Pearl was holding a smooth sphere in her left talon. As Sahara studied the strange object, she realized it was the orb from Pearl's staff. This time, it was bright red with specks of black and white sparks shooting out from it.

Pearl tossed the sphere to Sahara and it rolled to her talons. Sahara stared at the sphere in confusion, until it suddenly exploded and sent her flying into one of the walls. On impact, the pain ran through her body like a tidal wave before she heard something crack as she landed on her side. Through the pain, she glanced behind herself to see the wall cracking and falling apart after she had crashed into it. Ash covered the scales on her face, neck, wings, and legs. The crowd of watching dragons were silent, too shocked to gasp or make any noise. Fennec's eyes were wide and her ears drooped.

"You know, this wasn't as fun as I had expected it to be." Pearl sighed. "I was expecting something more out of you. Something I would have to work through. But I guess you just want this to end faster, therefore I can happily make that happen."

As Pearl began to advance towards Sahara, she only had one option. Sahara knew she had to end this now, so even though her body was aching, she managed to stand up. She dug her claws into the sand and thought as hard as she could. This distraction is going to work! It has too! Then, the ground began to shake, causing Pearl to stop. She looked down at the ground and a smirk started to crawl its way up her face. However, everyone in the bleachers didn't find any of this amusing. The dragons in the bleachers frantically looked around and even Topaz was uneasy.

Pearl slowly lifted her head up as she smirked at Sahara. "What is a little earthquake going to do to me?"

Sahara returned a smirk back which caused Pearl to stare at her with a flustered look on her face. "Didn't you say you expected something from me?" Sahara taunted. "Well, here you have it."

When Pearl looked down at the ground again, it grumbled as sand shot out like a geyser. Sand piled into the bleachers and dragons screamed and pushed each other as they tried to escape. Sand poured into the area where Topaz was sitting and she started to panic. The queen stood and tried to fly away, but another giant column of sand rose from the ground and rained down on her. Sahara ran over to Fennec and quickly unlocked her chains. And before long, her friend was in the air and flapping above her.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she shouted. "Let's go!"

Sahara quickly lifted into the air and so did the rest of her friends. Falcon quickly took off his nose ring and threw it into the piling sand below them. He then looked around frantically for some of the other prisoners. All of them had made it safely out of the arena and he dived towards them. He untied their copper wires and they joined him in the air. Falcon turned to Sahara and gave her a quick nod.

"We need to head back," Sahara said. "Quickly." They all followed her away from the arena and towards the mountains. She was finally free, and alive. But she couldn't help but wonder what might happen next.