If Glory Missed

Chapter Nine - Where Are They?

Hawk and Glory swiftly made their way to the arena just outside. The harsh mid-day light stung Glory's eyes after being away from it for over a day.

"Your scales..." Hawk marveled, watching how they when from a dull reddish-orange to the bright colors only a RainWing could possibly have. "They look amazing." He smiled shyly at her and Glory immediately focused on making her scales a more boring SkyWIng color while rolling her eyes. If that was an attempt to make her like him, sorry but it wouldn't work. Glory wasn't particularly into dragons of the same tribe who had just kidnapped her and nearly ripped out her precious fangs.

"Let's just find my friends and so we get out of here." They soared on the outskirts of the arena, only a wing-length from the pillars that chained Scarlet's prisoners.

After going in a circle around the arena twice and causing several guards to peer up at them suspiciously, Glory was forced to accept something. That something was the fact that none of her friends were there in more. She growled in frustration.

HOW had Scarlet KNOWN??? One of her guards must have realized that I wasn't a SkyWing and reported it back to her.

"They can't be far," it was an attempt at reassuring her, but nothing Hawk could say would make her feel better. Her friends were gone and the only dragon who could possibly know of their whereabouts was Scarlet. Glory spun around in the air to go back the way she had come, and collided with another dragon.

"GLORY!" the orange fire-less dragon shouted in surprise and alarm. Her face was contorted with... Fear? How could that be? Peril didn't get scared. Though I suppose it was easy to be fearless when you had scales that could not be touched by another dragon.

"What is it Peril?" She questioned after steadying herself in the air while Hawk flew to her side.

"The SandWing," she gasped. "Sunny. She's gone."

"Wait how do you know this, we weren't even sure where she was in the first place." Glory reminded her former enemy.

"There was this cage." She explained quickly. "It was hanging in one of the rooms. The door was hanging open and when I got closer I noticed that there were scales at the bottom of the cage. SANDWING scales."

"Okay, but that could have belonged to anyone right?" Scarlet had many SandWing prisoners chained up at the arena since Blaze had most of her tribe's support, not Burn.

"They were GOLDEN, and I don't know about YOU, but I have only seen ONE SandWing look like at this arena so far."

"Alright, alright, I agree." the RainWing gave in. "Then where is she? She has to be with the other's right? I mean if I were Queen Scarlet and I knew that my precious "artwork" had escaped before revenge killing her, then I would want to hide all her friends and..." realization suddenly dawned on her.

"She wants to trade. Me for their lives." Glory stated this matter-of-factly.

"Nope," the other SkyWing piped up for the first time during this whole conversation. Maybe he was secretly a RainWIng since he was so good at being invisible. "No way are we going back to Queen Scarlet. She would have all of our heads Well, at least Peril and I's," he corrected himself. "For you, she would want to rip out your fangs and probably torture you for a while with fire and/or sharp objects. Maybe she would even get one of the SandWings to stab you with their..."

"And I am going to stop you there. I think I get the picture," Glory glared at him so fiercely that Hawk's wings actually faltered. "There is no point in you two following me to your deaths." Hawk nodded in agreement and Glory noticed his muscles visibly relax.

"You really care about them enough to fly straight to your death for them?" Peril asked in astonishment. Her face scrunched up as if she was trying to think of why Glory would possibly be willing to do that.

"Just promise me one thing. Make sure they get out of here safely." Peril dipped her head and held Glory's gaze for a moment. Hawk looked slightly more nervous, but he didn't argue. Glory shifted her scales to their regular blue-green color and fanned out her frills. Several SkyWings started to shout in alarm, but Glory ignored them as she dove.

It wasn't hard to find Scarlet, she stood just in front of the throne room giving orders left and right. One SKyWIng even had to duck as she swung one of her wings toward her face.

"I know what you want Scarlet, so let's just get this over with. Where are my friends." Scarlet stopped giving orders and turned around slowly to face Glory.

"Splendid of you to show up," she mused. "I was wondering how many futile minutes you would spend looking for you annoying friends. I was actually starting to think of the many clever ways I could kill them if you hadn't come back," the corners of her mouth curved into a wicked smile.

"Where are they Scarlet," Glory hissed. She was not in the mood for the Queen's games right now. Not that she ever was.

"I will free them once you surrender to my guards," her tail flicked almost imperceptively, and five burly AkyWings armed with spears and chains crept out of the shadows to surround her.

"I'm not an idiot, you psychotic firebreather. Let them go first!" Glory shouted while eyeing the guards. She kept her mouth open slightly, ready to use her venom in the blink of an eye.

Scarlet's smile faded into an agitated frown. "I told Burn that you were smarter than that." The Queen didn't seem pleased to be right about this though. "Fortunately, I prepared for this." She breathed fire at Glory, but this was just a distraction.

The SkyWing soldiers suddenly charged at her. She immediately made her scales blend in with the background, but it was too late. They already had their talons on her, and took hardly andy time to bound her wings and throw a chain around her neck.

Glory spit her acid on the chain causing it to snap in two and even had time to strike two guards with her venom, but there was no way she could have known what would come next. A dragon suddenly dropped from the ceiling and landed squarely on her back. Glory whipped her neck around and opened her jaw to expose her fangs, but the SandWing -- Burn -- had expected this and quickly clamped her mouth shut. She even made sure to shove a muzzle over Glory's mouth once again.

Burn got off of the RainWing and Scarlet towered over Glory.

"Do you know what's going to happen to your friends?" Glory snorted angrily at Scarlet, but there was nothing she could do to free herself now.

"Of course not, so I will tell you. Your funny looking SandWing is already on her way to Burn's stronghold. There, her strange tail and golden scales will be put on display until Burn realizes how much work it is to take care of a living abomination and decides to have her stuffed." Scarlet continued to stare into Glory's eyes intently. She wanted to savor this moment.

"The NightWing, Starflier or whatever his name is, will stay at this palace as my guest of honor." She stopped herself, chuckled, then continued. "Well, I think you should know that by 'guest' I really mean 'exotic pet' since NightWings are so rare to find these days."

"Seeing that the MudWing is too soft for the arena, I have decided to have my guards chain him to the bottom of the nearby lake where he can drown slowly."

"Your SeaWing friend on the other talon has a real fighting spirit, so I have decided to giver her the honor of being my next champion in the arena, after the death of my former champion," she spat as if Peril's death was an inconvenience to her Majesty. "But don't you fret. Once your fangs are out, I will let you watch."

"Guards, take her to the infirmary RIGHT NOW. I want those fangs out today!"