The Warrior of the Sun (BOOK THREE OF THE SPACEWING PROPHECY)

Chapter 4

They woke up behind bars. 

Celestial with a start, whirling around and hissing. 

Orbit with a growl at the guards. 

Streak with a whimper and a nudging the others awake. 

Pisces with a very, very confused look. 

Tectonic with a snort.

Twilight with an interested but scared look. 

Tardis was awake the whole time, but his muzzle had been chained and some sort of weird power-absorber which made him useless held him in place. 

"What's going on?" Orbit demanded, flaring her wings. 

"A few civilians found you just outside the castle grounds," one of the StarWing guards growled, grasping her spear tighter. "They reported it to the king and His Majesty had you brought in for interrogation." 

"What?" Pisces yelped. "I'm one of you! I demand to be let out of here!"

The male guard looked uncomfortable, but the guard who spoke glared at her. 

"You were found with DayWings. We have reason to believe you are the enemy as well," she hissed. 

"Oh, great," Orbit muttered, flicking her tail. "I'm actually honestly surprised that we haven't been captured this far, so I guess this is okay, as long as we leave soon. We have a very busy schedule, you know. We ran away and decided to end the war." 

The female guard snorted and the male said nothing. 

"A few jumbled-up wyrmlings versus a war that's been going on longer than you've been alive?" she laughed. "Maybe we should let you go, to see how fast you die out there." 

"You know we can't do that, Scorpio," the male spoke for the first time. 

"Don't tell them my name, Libra," Scorpio hissed. 

"Why'd you tell them mine, then?" Libra joked. He was silenced by a glare of full-on hatred from his tribemate. "Fine, I'll shut up." 

"Why is Tardis all tied up, but we aren't?" Pisces inquired. 

"He's a myth. A legend. Something to keep wyrmlings in bed at night," Scorpio lashed her tail. "He's powerful enough to be quite of interest of His Majesty. And powerful enough to escape, with you with him. All of you combined aren't half as powerful as him."

Celestial thought that she used the word 'powerful' a little bit too much, but she got the point. 

They continued to sit in silence, until Celestial finally asked, "are we going to wait here all day?" 

"Might," Libra commented dryly. 

Salvation, however, did come. A scared looking messenger scurried into the dungeon, handing Scorpio a note. She read it silently then nodded, allowing Libra to open the door and let the wyrmlings out of their cell. They were escorted up a very long flight of steps and into a large throne room. 

The floor was made of opal, with silver talon prints cutting through it, and the walls were obsidian with little sparkles of diamond. Celestial thought of the stories she was told, when she was little, about the Sky Kingdom, and how there were gold talon prints in the floor there, too. 

Sitting on a sweeping throne that looked like it was made of nebulae sat King Orion. He flicked his tail when they came in, and the guards closed the large double doors at the front of the room. 

"You're the dragonets who escaped from Apex," he pointed at Twilight, Orbit, Streak and Pisces.

"Oly, Your Majesty," Twilight corrected with a bow. 

"Mm," the dragon sighed. "Why, in the name of the three moons, are you wandering around the continent with DayWings?" He motioned with a talon to Tectonic and Celestial.

"We're going to-" Celestial started. A guard hissed at her, and suddenly she was surrounded by spears and teeth and claws. I could easily fight my way out of this, she thought with a growl. 

"Oh, clam yourselves," Orion waved a lazy talon. "She isn't going anywhere." 

"We're going to stop the war," Celestial hissed. "However I suddenly want to much less than before." 

"What she means is," Tectonic interrupted, and a few guards growled in his direction, "That we're going to stop the war, and you can't keep us from bringing peace to Jerrynd." 

"Who said I wanted peace?" Orion looked around, mocking a confused face. "Sure, war isn't exactly my favorite thing in the moon, but-" he started counting off on his talons, "It helps me maintain my status and keep my subjects in check, it strengthens my relations with the MoonWings, it distracts anyone who would try to challenge me for the throne, and let's not forget it's how I came into power int he first place!" He spread his star-dappled wings, grinning. 

"You're sounding like Scarlet," Orbit hissed. "From the myths." 

"But that's what they are," Orion replied, tracing his claw down her snout. "Myths! And legends! And historical ones at that. So even if they were true, Queen Scarlet ruled for a very, very long time." 

"And then she was killed," Twilight pointed out. 

"Only after the war ended," Orion corrected with another smile. Celestial was starting to want to rip off his face just to see him stop doing that. "Isn't that right, princess?" he flicked his tail in her direction. 

"This is why we shouldn't have kings," Celestial said dryly. 

"Maybe," Streak admitted, quivering as she slid behind Orbit. 

"But!" Orion clapped, spreading his wings to encompass all of the dragonets. "You did bring me my very own TimeWing, so I'm quite happy about that. I might decide to spare you, actually." He pointed to Orbit, Pisces, Twilight, and Streak. 

"He'll never help you if you hurt any of us," Pisces yelped as some of the guards stepped closer to Tectonic. "He's not that kind of dragon."

"He won't have a choice," Orion replied, his eyes darkening but his smile only widening. "Not that it matters to you. Guards!" He clapped his wings together and a few guards grabbed Tectonic and Celestial. 

"No!" Streak roared, breaking away from her guard and jumping towards her friends. But a few more dragons blocked her way and she growled at them. Orbit cheered for her but quickly broke off as another StarWing held a spear to her neck. 

Celestial and Tectonic were taken away, and as the dark shapes of her friends behind her disappeared, the SunWing princess realized something. 

This may be the last time I ever see them again, she thought. And for some reason, that thought was a lot scarier than it would have been a few days ago.