If Glory Missed

Chapter Twelve - One Shall Die

Night had come and gone since Glory was chained up in the middle of the arena. She had tried to get some sleep, but could not rest knowing that her friends were about to die and Glory could do nothing to stop Scarlet.

The natural defenses that made a RainWing so dangerous -- camouflage and venom -- had been stripped from her mercilessly.

Now the sun rose above the arena, casting light over the empty stands. Within the next few hours, dragons would start trickling in to watch the fight between Tsunami and her unknown opponent. In the past few days that Glory had been at the Kingdom of Sky, Scarlet had always named the dragons going into the arena a day in advance. This time it was different. Because of me...

Glory ended up being right. The closer the sun came to its peak, the fuller the stands got. When they were nearly full, several burly guards flew on each side of Glory to lift her off the arena sands. I guess Scarlet only wants me to witness my friend's demise, instead of partaking in it with her, she realized.

There was no point in struggling. Not only was Glory still weak from the previous days, but worry and lack of sleep had left her emotionally drained. She hung limply as the guards carried her next to the side where Burn watched the battles. On the side opposite of her was where Glory had slept as Scarlet's "artwork". The marble tree that had been her perch was still there.

Suddenly the entire audience burst into applause. Scarlet was here. She flew in from her palace with Burn and Vermilion following just behind her. Scarlet stood for a moment as if she were judging the crowd before her, then sat down on her arena throne. Burn leaned towards Scarlet and whispered something but the SkyWing Queen waved her off. Burn held her tongue but looked thoroughly displeased.

Scarlet gestured to a nearby guard who disappeared for a moment, only to reappear with... Starflight! He looks miserable, Glory noticed immediately. His head and tail hung down as they carried him over to the tree. The guards chained his mouth shut and secured him to the tree with a much stronger chain than Glory had been given. It took every bit of self-control for Glory to hold back a shout to get his attention. She was almost positive that kind of outburst would worsen Starflight's life even more.

Vermillion cleared his throat. "Welcome again to everyone for what will be yet another exciting match. As of now, you likely all heard the rumors that Tsunami will be the first participant in today's fight, but the Queen only told me mere minutes ago who the second fighter would be." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Her Majesty has decided that Tsunami of the SeaWings will fight against King Gill AND Prince Fin of the SeaWings!"

The crowd roared in excitement as Glory looked on in horror. It was bad enough that they were forcing Glory to fight against members of her own tribe, but two dragons?! Her death was inevitable at this point.

It took several minutes for the prisoners to be brought down for the fight, but eventually, there were three very dangerous looking SeaWings poised on the arena sands. King Gill stood in front of his son, growling ferociously at his opponent. Tsunami locked eyes with her friends. Glory had never felt so helpless in her life.

"Ready your talons, bare your teeth, and FIGHT!"

Tsunami began to circle her enemies, looking for weaknesses. Glory had seen her do this with Kestrel many times in their underground home.

King Gill lashed out at her with his talons spread wide, but she managed to dodge it and get in a solid whack with her tail.

If only we had stayed under that mountain.

The king snarled in outrage and leaped at the blue SeaWing. He pinned her down and dug his back claws into her belly. Tsunami shrieked, but was able to loosen his grip by biting his left talon. The moment he pulled his arm away, Tsunami took the opportunity to push off his other leg, slide out from under him, and push him onto his back.

With the roles reversed, Tsunami managed to hold his arms and legs down with her own. Before he had a chance to try the same trick to escape, she thrust her head forward, and latched onto his neck with her jaws. He froze. This was the end. Glory made eye contact with Tsunami for a moment. The look on her Tsunami's face made Glory feel like either ripping Scarlet to pieces or crying for her sister (and she had only cried once in her life). Tsunami Glanced from Scarlet, to the crowd, and finally, to the helpless dragon underneath her.

Glory knew what she was thinking: this dragon was a prisoner to the arena just as she was, and didn't deserve to die this way. She also knew that the only way Tsunami could walk away from this fight was by killing both dragons.

Tsunami closed her eyes and snapped his neck swiftly.

She stepped slowly off the corpse of the king and turned to face her next enemy. He came at her from behind before she could blink and raked his claws down her left-wing. Tsunami cried out in pain and spun around. She hissed at him and prepared to use her tail again, but he had retreated to the far side of the arena. Tsunami limped towards him with a murderous look in her eyes.

The Prince suddenly looked very frightened. He was only a dragonet and had just been forced to witness the death of his father. His moment of bravery had been short-lived when Prince Fin realized that he was no match for this dragon.

Glory caught movement from where Burn was sitting. The SandWing princess had gotten up from her place next to Scarlet and now stood over the Queen.

Burn looked as if she wasn't in control of her own talons.

Tsunami was only a tail-length between murdering a dragon old enough to be her brother.

Scarlet's ally stood with claws outstretched just inches from the queen.

Glory's sister crouched down to jump.

The SandWing slowly reached for Scarlet's throat.

The SeaWing pinned down an innocent ready to slice his throat.

Someone screamed. The crowd scattered in chaos as they grasped that Burn was about to murder their beloved queen. Scarlet jumped up from her seat and spun around just in time. Burn's talons swiped at empty space. For a short second Burn looked at the Queen in utter shock. But a second was all it took for Scarlet wrap her talons around the SandWing and snap her neck.

Burn was dead.

And somehow Glory knew it wasn't the SandWing's fault.