Wings of Fire: A Human in a Dragonet's Prophecy.

Because You Owe It (Chapter 11)

Kestrel was a Skywing, often regarded as one of, if not the fastest-flying dragon race in Pyrrhia. In the moment, however, it meant nothing as Kestrel faced a veritable tidal wave of seawings as they rose out of the ocean to surround her.

Kestrel had attempted flying away from the growing horde of Seawings but was forced to stop as seawings rose from the ocean cutting off any possible escape routes she tried flying through.

"Why are there so many!" Kestrel thought in frustrated disbelief. She swore that the number of seawings kept growing as she struggled to find a way out of the net of seawings. She had a rough assessment of where she was due to the coastal-looking region, guessing she was close to seawing territory; Still, unless she had ended up directly over the seawing's royal palace she doubted that all these Seawings were just here for her.

"Drop the Scavenger Skywing!" a rather scarred seawing shouted, flying closer to Kestrel with the net of Seawings following closing in behind the supposed seawing leader.

Kestrel had guessed why she hadn't been immediately attacked and subsequently overwhelmed by the unexpected force of the Seawings. Despite the Skywings and Seawings being on opposite sides of the war, she was currently not their main target.

The drained words of Y/N had given her enough information to infer that he had done something to cause the seawings to kick him out of the hidden palace of the Seawings but she couldn't have guessed to what degree of trouble Y/N caused.

"Obviously something big," Kestrel thought in sheer incredulity at the amount of Seawings that now surrounded her. It had to be over a hundred Seawings, all primed to strike at a signal from their commander.

"Hand over the Scavenger and you can leave!" the seawing shouted again, sounding more diplomatic than before but still demandingly.

"As If," Kestel bawked, fully understanding that her grip on Y/N was now the only thing keeping her from being torn to shreds by the multitude of Seawings. Whatever they currently wanted from the scavenger unmistakably needed him alive or the swarm of Seawings would have just overrun her and the scavenger, ending their lives before they could even fight back.

"Why not just let us go?" Kestrel asked, glancing around at the encircling seawings. The question was mostly just a prod for information as she stalled, trying to find an opportunity to escape in the ever-closing net of Seawings.

"Not with that scavenger still in your talons, if we don't have it then we might as well not go back to the palace." the seawing commander shouted at Kestrel, a chill running down many of the Seawing's backs as they recalled the Seawing Queen's orders. "Find the winged scavenger ALIVE, or I will make sure every last one of you is thrown into a pit filled with eels," she ordered. Now, the Seawing soldiers wouldn't consider the threat from Queen Coral to be so bad if the eels she had referred to couldn't produce an electric shock that could kill even dragons.

They were at a standstill, with Kestrel unable to escape but unwilling to give up the only leverage she had. While the seawings could not take Y/N from Kestrel's talons without potentially killing him, If he was killed in the crossfire of taking him from Kestrel, there would be no point in returning to their former homes unless they wanted to take their chances with the promised electric eels.

Y/N meanwhile, struggled to recover his strength while stuck in Kestrel's taloned grip; the aftereffects of his magic only somewhat subsided. He had watched in surprise and terror as Seawings rose from the ocean in a jaw-dropping display.

"Oh, I absolutely kicked the hornets' nest," Y/N thought, watching more and more seawings surround him and Kestrel. He gaped at the rising horde trying to think up a scheme that could save them.