Stars of Magic: Wings of Power (Book 1)

Chapter 13

That night, the goblin from the morning came back and threw in a big piece of cow. Luna grabbed it and started ripping it apart with her teeth.

"Oh, good!" Spray said. "You're hungry now! Woah."

Luna had devoured that cow five seconds flat. The only thing left was the bone, and Luna threw it onto the sands below. It hit a goblin on the head that was cleaning the arena and knocked him out. Luna curled herself up and stared at the three full moons. Finally, Spray spoke.

"Are you okay?" Spray asked.

"I'm just angry," Luna said. "I just . . . just froze. I couldn't do something to help the both of you. I can't even prevent more death, like I'm supposed to do. I can't do anything right."

"What are you talking about?" Spray said. "You can't just shame yourself like that. You could only spare one of us, so you chose to spare me. You can't always save everyone. But that doesn't mean you have to put yourself down for it. You just need to tell yourself, 'I am brave, I am bold, nothing is impossible for me to do'."

"Really," Luna said. "You tell yourself that?"

"I try," Spray said. "But Heist always gets in the way."

"Are you okay?" Luna asked.

"Uh? I . . ." Spray heisated.

"What did Heist do to you?" Luna asked sternly.

Spray looked at Luna with a solemn expression. He rolled up his sleeve and showed Luna a deep slash on his arm. Possibly a whip slash. Luna gasped. Spray turned around and rolled up the back of his shirt. About twenty slashes were there.

"What are those?" Luna asked in horror.

"Heist did this," Spray said. "She gave me these every time I broke a rule."

"What?" Luna asked. "She's that strict?"

"This slash on my arm was given to me after the arena fight today," Spray explained. "She gave it to me because I glared at Heist after I finished my fight. She hates it when I do that."

"You can't be serious," Luna said. "If she's that bad, why don't you try to . . . uh . . . you know, flame, flame, queen is ashes?"

"I can't," Spray said. "Heist has extra magic, like her daughter. Once, I tried to burn her, but nothing happened. She enchanted herself to be immune to my fire."

Well, that was a bust. There had to be other ways to get out of here. Luna tapped the bars. They were made of metal. Flames can melt metal if hot enough. But first . . .

"Why exactly were you stolen?" Luna asked Spray.

"Well, it's a long story," Spray said. "It all started about thirteen years ago, my mother was trying to give birth in private, and the most private place my parents could think of was the old, abandoned royal nursery."

"Royal nursery?!" Luna jumped. "You're royalty?! Like, an actual prince?"

"My mother is Meriam's sister, Princess Ariel," Spray explained. "Both of my parents are advanced Fire Mermaids, and if two advanced Fire Mermaids mate, their offspring are fireskins.

"A guard that followed my kidnappers and was put in the cell next to me told me this next part. Right after my mother gave birth to me, three goblins appeared in the nursery and stole me. It turns out, a guard with my mother had been called to Meriam's throne room, and he was forced to tell Meriam about me. The three goblins who stole me were Heist and two of her guards, they were hired to kill me."

Luna gasped, but let Spray continue.

"When the goblins were running with me back to Heist's palace, we were within sight of the Palace of Magic, when the goblin's hands started burning and dropped me in a patch of Rubberplants. Heist stared down at me in surprise. I grabbed one of the Rubberplants and started picking apart the leaves on the stem. None of the plant parts burned. She enchanted her skin to be immune to my fireskin, and she took me back to the palace to raise me. The guard who followed me was caught, and put in the arena. He survived until I started working at the arena, but then he died the day after."

"Wow," Luna said after he finished. "You must have been through a lot."

"Yeah," Spray replied, in a solemn voice, "I've been told a lot of lies over the years."

"Like what?" Luna asked.

"Once, Heist told me that I had to eat these black rocks to keep the fire inside of me burning which keeps me alive." Spray said. "I found the truth out quickly, and threatened to destroy her palace to stop Heist from giving me the rocks, which turned out to be just coal."

"Huh," Luna said. "Have you ever tried escaping before?"

Spray pointed at his cell door. They looked like they replaced a piece of the metal that was melted.

"I need this ball to keep others safe from me," Spray said. "But this ball was enchanted to keep me inside of the arena. I tried to get out, but I was caught, and Heist punished me."

Luna looked down at her claws and examined her wristband. Could she melt in with her fire? Could she enchant it to break? No. Heist had probably enchanted the arena to block extra magic that wasn't her own. Luna saw that the goblins hadn't confiscated her sack. She rummaged through the sack and pulled out her stone and the remaining gift.

"You know what?" Luna said. "I can change that."

"What?" Spray asked. "Heist punishing me?"

"What? No," Luna said. "I can help you with your fire! I can make a medicine that can help you control your fireskin! Just give me the enchantment."

"Hmm . . ." Spray thought. "Enchant the rock to turn into a fire-proof ball of fish meat wrapped in seaweed that can help whoever eats it control their fireskin."

"Alright, weird choice, but okay," Luna said, then whispered to the stone, "When I touch the rock in my talon with you, you will enchant the rock to turn into a fire-proof ball of fish meat wrapped in seaweed that can help whoever eats it control their fireskin."

Luna tapped the rock with her stone and a ball wrapped with seaweed appeared in her talon. She reached across to Spray's cage, and Spray opened his ball and took the ball. He popped it in his mouth and swallowed it. Spray stood up in his ball.

"Hey, Luna," Spray said. "Turn into a human."

Luna did so. Spray reached across to Luna's cage and tapped her on the shoulder, then on her dress for good measure. Nothing happened. Spray squealed and jumped up and down.

"It worked!" Spray squealed. "It worked! It worked! It worked! Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Luna said. "I'll see you in the morning, Spray."

"Good night, Luna," Spray said.

Luna turned into her dragon form and spread her wings to take in the moonlight, but she knew that with the horrors she saw and was told, sleep was going to be a long ways away for poor Luna.

Thanks for reading guys! Hope you enjoyed! Have a great day/night!