Wings Of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy

~Twelve~

"Kestrel!" Clay said as he saw the dragon that was pulled out in chains. She was clearly unhappy

"You know her?" Peril asked while looking st him.

"She's one of the dragons who raised us. They didn't like us much, but they kept us alive. I guess even terrible parents are better than no parents." He said as the guards staked her chains to the ground.

"Loyal subjects! This Dragon, Kestrel, stands accused of highest treason- disobeying me." She said woth a smirk as she looked at Vermilion.

"Your majesty, the facts are clear. You gave an order. Kestrel disobeyed you. She deserves a long and painful execution." He said and Scarlet let out a short laugh.

"Very compelling. Well said. Sounds guilty to me." She said and Osprey looked at her.

"Your majesty. I do have a few words to say in this prisoner's defence." He said and the queen looked at him a bit annoyed.

"You ordered Kestrel to destroy her egg. It was a single egg, but inside we're two dragonets. One had no fire at all, but the other.....had too much." He said making Clay look at Peril.

"Too much fire? Like you?" He asked and Peril narrowed her eyes a bit.

"No other dragonet's like me have hatched in years and years....." She said and Clay thought for a bit.

"Is Kestrel....your mother?" He asked and she frowned.

"My mother is dead! Queen Scarlet killed her to save me!" She said quickly.

"Maybe that was a lie..." He said and Peril went quiet.

"We know all this. Skip to the part where we execute her." Scarlet said angrily as Kestrel struggled to get the muzzle off.

"You ordered her to destroy the defective egg however, she fled with it. When you caught her, the dragonets had hatched. I know, because I was one of the guards who was with you. You told her you'd forgive her and let her live if she killed one of her dragonets. So she killed the one woth too little fire, right there at the River, with her own claws. But even though she did what you said, you told us to kill her other dragonet anyway! She grabbed her daughter. She tried to fly away....but she was too badly burned and was forced to drop her. So she fled leaving her only dragonet at your mercy." Osprey said and Peril sat up.

"No! My brother died in the egg! I killed him! And my mother tried to kill me! Scarlet is the one who saved me!" She said and Clay looked at her.

"At least, that's what she told you." He said softly.

"You admit Kestrel disobeyed me. I think we're done here." Scarlet said angrily making Osprey frown and Vermilion smirk.

"But she tried yo obey you. You're the one who reversed your order." He said earning a huff from her.

"I changed my mind. Im the Queen. I can do that." She said dismissively.

"Kestrel was always a faithful soldier to you. She followed your orders, and what did you do? Ordered her to kill her own dragonets!" He said a bit aggravated.

"Enough! We'll execute her tomorrow. And while we're at it, execute him, too, for boring me." She said with a bored tone. Angrily Peril flew down to the arena not noticing that her tail hit one of Clay's chains. He picked up his arm and looked at the bond before looking back at Peril.

"It's not true! Tell them! My mother wanted to kill me, and Queen Scarlet saved me!" She said hurriedly as she landed in the arena close to Kestrel. Surprised Kestrel stopped moving as she looked at her daughter.

"Surprise! Your dragonet is still alive- and working for me! Peril, you're not supposed to be here." Scarlet said making Peril look at her angrily.

"You lied tl me! You said she was dead!" Peril shouted.

"Would you have wanted to know your mother was was alive somewhere, wishing she'd killed you? She could have escaped woth your brother. She thinks she chose wrong. That's why she never came back for you." Scarlet said slowly becoming annoyed. Kestrel blew fire through the breathing holes of the muzzle and reared up making the queen smirk.

"Who kept you alive all these years? Finding black rocks, feeding you, making you my champion? Aren't i a better mother than her anyway?" She asked and Peril looked at her mother who for the first time in a long time had a soft and worried look on her face.

"I call upon the tradition of the champion's shield. I want to fight for my mother." She said and Scarlet was surprised.

"What?" She asked shocked that Peril even knew of such a thing.

"As queen's champion, i can stand for any condemned dragon. If it win my next fight, you have to let her go." She said as she stood tall.

"Now where did you hear about that old law?" She asked woth smoke coming from her snout. She pointed at Osprey.

"You." Her voice was full of venom as she picked the old dragon up with her back claws. Kestrel knew what she was going to do and in a way felt bad.

"Stop!" Peril shouted as she went after her queen and friend. Scarlet dropped the wingless dragon and flew off. Quickly Peril tried to grab him only to set him on fire where she had grabbed him. Scared she let go of him and he hit the rocks below. Peril looked at him sadly. 

"He was my friend." She said as she looked at the queen.

"Not anymore. The champion has asked to stand for the prisoner. Ill choose her opponent and they'll battle at the end of tomorrow's games. If Peril wins, Kestrel goes free. If not, I'll have a dead champion- but at least we'll get to execute Kestrel right away. What a wonderful bloody day for me and Queen Burn!" Scarlet said becoming more excited as she spoke. She really wanted Kestrel dead and she would sacrifice her champion to do so if needed.

Clay thought of how Peril must feel having lost Osprey but was not worried about Queen Burn coming. As he though to himself Peril shot from the arena nearly setting two guards on fire as she took off.

"Peril! Wait! You have to tell me where Sunny is!" He shouted hoping to get her attention but the female was too angry.

"What are we going to do? Starflight won't survive the arena tomorrow....and Burn is coming for Sunny...is that Peril? No. Can we save Kestrel? Starflight and sunny wont make it...please Peril....come on...think about something else. Think about cows. Hmmmm....cows. I wish I could share a cow with my friends roght now. I miss them." He said tohimself as the sun went down. As a shadow began to cover him he perked up.

"Peril! Finally! That's not Peril..." He said as he realised who it was. It was Burn and two other sandwings.

A/n

Well here it is. I honestly forgot how blood thirsty Scarlet could be.