Wings of fire Book one: Befriending a monster.

Birthday wishes

Starstorm woke up to see Burn flying over her, she quickly got up, Burn always scared her.  She had seen the princess flying in and out of her fortress before, sometimes carrying corpses or mutilated dragons.  Burn flew to the palace, seemingly done inspecting her.  Why was Burn here?  Out of all of the three sand-wing sisters who started the war, Burn was the worst, she was brutal and strong, Blister was smart but probably had bad intentions for the other kingdoms, Blaze was pretty but somewhat dumb and would be easily beaten in a real battle.  Burn was allied with sky-wings and mud-wings, Blister was with the sea-wings, and Blaze was with the ice-wings, rain-wings were not involved in the war.  It was bad that Burn was here, she would most likely try to add the dragonets to her collection of preserved dragons in her fortress.

Speaking of the dragonets, they weren't on their pillars or in the arena. Did Burn do something to them? Three guards flew out of the palace, carrying Tsunami, more sky-wings with Clay and Starflight followed close behind. Burn and Scarlet sat down on the wooden platform by the arena, with Glory in her tree next to them, sky-wings and a few sand-wings were gathering on the sides. Tsunami was dropped into the arena, Clay and Starflight were chained up on the platform. Two guards flew up to Starstorm, unclipping the wires attached to her legs, and grabbing her. She was chained up next to Clay and Starflight. Why her? She knew that she had to fight eventually, but why was she brought down with the dragonets?

"I thought you'd appreciate the best view in the house for this." Scarlet said, nodding towards the arena, where Tsunami was snapping and clawing at the guards nearby.

Burn looked over to Glory who was sleeping calmly, her scales a mixture of dark blue and light green.

"Oh, that's my new toy." Scarlet explained. "Pretty, isn't she? I bet that I'm the only queen with my very own pet rain-wing."

"Waste of food." Burn stated, looking slightly jealous.

"She doesn't eat much, she's more like an exotic plant than a dragon. Water, lots of sunshine, a little fruit, and a monkey here or there. Worth it until I get bored of her anyway."

"Hmm."

Scarlet probably wanted to make Burn think that Starstorm was an accidental dragonet of destiny so she could keep Glory as her pet rain-wing. Dragons sitting on the side of the arena were roaring for entertainment, Starflight looked terrified and Clay looked worried.

A sky-wing flew into the arena and started announcing. "Fellow dragons. Loyal sky-wings and honored sand-wing guests. We have a full slate of thrilling games today, so let's begin!"

Tsunami ran at him, and the sky-wing shot into the sky, barely escaping her talons as the audience laughed. "Looks like someone's mistaken me for her opponent today." The sky-wing continued with a nervous laugh. "Sorry to disappoint you, sea-wing, but there's a much more dramatic fellow we would like you to meet."

Guards were on their way down to the arena with a green sea-wing, dropping them into the arena, on the opposite side of Tsunami. The sea-wing collapsed and closed it's eyes. "Down on the sands, we have one of the so-called dragonets of destiny, are they really so great and powerful? This is how we find out. I give you, Tsunami of the sea-wings!"

She heard the watching dragons say and yell different things.

"It's really them! The dragonets of destiny"

"You saw what that mud-wing did to Mistral! What was that?"

"Such a fabulous party."

"Wearing the same ruby medallion! How embarrasing."

"Hope she wins."

She looked down to Tsunami, she seemed nervous, but at least a few sky-wings were on her side.

"Ahem." The sky-wing flying above the arena continued. "Some of you may remember a dragon a few months back who refused to fight."

"Booooo!" The crowd yelled.

"Indeed, tried to start a regular prisoner revolution, didn't he? Tried to get all of the prisoners to stop fighting. Well, clearly he had to be taught a lesson, or we'd be laying in our caved right now, bored out of our skulls. Am I right?"

The audience cheered obediently.

Or, you know, you could have a normal kingdom where prisoners don't have to fight to the death, and you could find a different way to entertain yourselves. She thought, glaring at the audience.

"So what's the best way to punish a sea-wing?"

"Chop off his head!"

"Stuff grass into his gills!"

"Drown him!"

Drown him? Moons, that dragon has problems.

"All good suggestions, but no. The best way to punish a sea-wing, is to take away all of their water. All of their water. For months."

Tsunami looked up at Clay, Starflight, and Starstorm, absolutely horrified. Surely she would be okay, she seemed to be a good fighter. She looked across the arena, the other sea-wing was laying there, he was definitely bigger than Tsunami, but he didn't seem to be mentally there. Tsunami could outsmart him.

"Dehydrated, mentally unstable, and ready to fight at last. It's Gill of the sea-wings! Claws up, tails ready! Fight!"

Gill suddenly got up and charged at Tsunami, it looked like he was roaring but no sound was made, his eyes were bloodshot and his tongue was swollen. Tsunami jumped over his head and turned around, facing Gill as he hit the arena wall, looking dazed for a moment.

"He's fast and desperate." Starflight whispered, tucking his head behind his wing.

"Tsunami's fast too." Clay responded, watching the fight with a worried look.

"She'll be fine, Tsunami seems like a good fighter." She said, trying to comfort them.

Scarlet looked around Burn and sent a glare in her direction. In the arena, Gill stood on his back legs and tried to slam himself down onto Tsunami's spine. She lashed out at his belly, dark red blood splattering onto her blue scales, Gill's talons slipped off of her back, causing him to crash into the sand when she ran out of the way. He immediately got up and lunged at her, grabbing her tail and pulling her off of her feet, she moved midair, turning and biting his webbed talons.

Gill roared without sound once again, dropping Tsunami. She moved quickly, smashing her tail into his legs, he fell down onto the sand. Tsunami jumped onto his back and grabbed his horns, pinning him to the ground. Gill tried to get up but she was too heavy.

"I've won." Tsunami yelled to Scarlet. "You can clearly see that. We can end this now, without killing anyone. I'm asking you to let him live."

The watching dragons went quiet, stunned by what she said, Scarlet watched Tsunami with a smug smile.

"KILL HIM!" Several dragons in the audience roared.

"Snap his neck!"

"Pull out his teeth!"

"Rip out his eyes!"

"Something gory!"

"Death!"

Tsunami looked down at Gill, probably trying to think of any other way to end the fight.

"She doesn't have a choice," Starflight stated. "it's her life or his."

Starstorm had never killed a dragon, but she knew that it was a hard thing to do, unless you enjoyed killing like Burn and Scarlet.

"Maybe our 'dragonet of destiny' doesn't have the stomach for battle," The queen said calmly. "maybe war is too scary for her. Perhaps she'd like to go back into hiding instead?"

Tsunami looked up into Scarlet's eyes and snapped Gill's neck in one quick movement. Clearly saying, 'I'm imagining that this is you'.