A Battle Without Winners

[Artwork by Fantasyart12 on deviantart]

It was another thrilling day at Queen Scarlet's notorious arena. Peril the SkyWing born with too much fire stood over the burnt corpse of yet another prisoner forced to fight the Queen's Champion. The quick-ending nature of these fights, however, meant that the SkyWing queen needed someone else to die in order to quench her thirst of blood for the day.

"Let's see," Queen Scarlet tapped her talons against the throne while eyeing her prisoners thoughtfully; this was all just a means of entertainment for Her Majesty. Finally, her gaze rested on one dragon that particularly stood out.

"I think it is about time that we allowed the queen of the NightWings to compete, don't you agree?" Scarlet mused, relishing how her beloved subjects chattered excitedly amongst themselves and clapped their wings together in approval.

"Now to pick her unlucky opponent." The yellow stare of the queen once again surveyed her prisoners in the sky. "I choose... That one!" A malicious grin swept across her face as several SkyWing guards flew up to their youngest IceWing prisoner. He was just a dragonet, but that made it even more thrilling for Scarlet.

The IceWing had been stationed up on the prison column for several months now. His spirit was so dampened from the dreadful experience that he hardly resisted as the armored SkyWings carried him to the red-stained sands below.

Queen Battlewinner was a different story. The NightWing had been there a mere three days and seemed as ready to murder nearby dragons as she had the day they captured her. She hissed and thrashed, trying furiously to shake off her attackers to no avail.

Eventually, all five of the guards managed to work together to drop the queen heavily on the arena ground. For a second the NightWing only focused on trying to claw the feet of the fleeing guards. Then she remembered the reason they had brought her here in the first place.

Battlewinner slowly turned around to face the small IceWing. This fight would not last long. The NightWing Queen was certain of this.

Iceberg tried to stand his ground and look brave, he really did. Unfortunately, when a dragonet of his age is forced to fight a full-grown queen nearly twice his size with every ounce of fighting experience that comes from years of being queen, the odds of him winning are smaller than... Well, they are smaller than a Seventh Circle IceWing beating the Diamond Trials: It just doesn't happen.

He spread his wings as far as the manacles binding them would allow and spread out each of his spikes so that the light glinted off their lethal points. If he had to fight to the death, he would at least go down fighting with all he had.

"May the spirits of our SkyWing ancestors soar alongside you during this fight for honor!" Prince Vermilion shouted from his vantage point near the SkyWing Queen. Scarlet rolled her eyes as the blood-red dragon continued. "Claws out. Frostbreath at ready. Let the battle commence!"

Battlewinner didn't waste a second. Iceberg had barely moved a tail-length when the queen leaped at him with her deadly claws outstretched and aimed at his heart. The IceWing let out a frightened holler and managed to get just out of range of her natural weapon.

Unfortunately, he left his tail practically hanging out in the wind, and Battlewinner would never miss an opportunity this perfect. She clamped her jaws on the weak spot on his tail and bit down so hard that two identical holes were punctured through the tender area.

Iceberg couldn't help but let out a shriek of pain. He was left momentarily dazed by the overwhelming pain. This left the IceWing with barely enough time to register the lunge Battlewinner made for his throat, let alone defend against her attack properly.

Whether by battle training habit or pure luck, Iceberg dropped his head at that exact moment, and the only thing NightWing's jaws closed around was air. Outraged, Queen Battlewinner twisted around to blow searing plumes of fire at her opponent.

Time seemed to slow down. Iceberg's life flashed before his eyes. Him and his sister Taiga playing in the snow then being separated by their father as punishment for bringing down their rankings. Iceberg watching as Taiga climbed higher in the ranks until the day when she ultimately commanded the same unit that her brother belonged to. Iceberg watching as a NightWing murdered his sister in cold blood.

A feeling of hatred so intense suddenly flooded the IceWing's brain leaving him with only one overwhelming thought: I must avenge her.

Before the blaze escaped Battlewinner's gigantic maw to scorch his scales and disfigure his face, Iceberg let out a breath so piercing that it cut right through the queen's flicker of a flame and straight into her throat.

The NightWing queen recoiled so quickly that it seemed as if she had been struck by lightning. Her mouth opened as if in a scream, but only a hoarse whisper escaped her snout.

Suddenly, Queen Scarlet was there, standing victoriously in front of Battlewinner. The SkyWing unclamped the bindings on the black dragon's wings, then hissed something so quiet to the NightWing queen that Iceberg had to strain his ears to make out the chilling message.

"Leave," She hissed as the NightWing clutched her throat in pain. "Go crawling back to the wretched place you call home and show your tribe how weak their pathetic queen is." Scarlet smiled wickedly at Queen Battlewinner. "That is, if you don't freeze to death on the way there."

Ice had already begun to spread across her mouth, but it was a painfully slow process and proved that her death would not come swiftly. Iceberg watched as she flapped away on shivering wings, horrified by the life he had surely ended.

This was not the dragon who killed Taiga. There was no triumphant feeling of revenge to make-up for this violent act. No relief that his sister's killer had been put to rest. This was murder.

What have I done?