The Prophecy's Five (WoF x CRK)

6. A Short-Lived Battle

"After last month's battle with Blaze's army, my dungeons were stuffed with IceWing prisoners of war. Only five have survived. After two wins, here's Fjord of the IceWings!" Queen Scarlet introduced Hollyberry's opponent, a fierce looking dragon with a blue scar along his neck, "And in the corner: I'm sure a legendary dragonet of destiny will have no problem surviving my little arena. Isn't that right, Hollyberry of the MudWings?"

Many voices called out, suggesting gruesome murder methods for both parties. Hollyberry tried to focus on her opponent, not the comments. I really didn't think this through, she realised. It was too late to back out now though, so the MudWing's eyes met the pure blue eyes of her opponent.

"Claws up! Teeth ready! Fight!" The battle began

"Fjord, right?" Hollyberry spoke, uncertain about her approach to the battle, "I've never met an IceWing before. I've never really met much of anyone, really. I didn't realise IceWings were so blue, it's very surprising. It's cool though! No pun intended."

"Are you trying to get us both killed?" Fjord hissed, "Shut up and let me kill you."

"I'd rather not thanks." Hollyberry said as she leapt back away from the IceWing.

She was tempted to ask if they really had to fight, but there was no use wasting her breath on a question she already knew the answer to. Obviously they had to fight, that was the whole point of the arena. And she would have to kill him, even if she wished she didn't have to. Fjord opened his mouth, emitting a strange noise from his throat. Hollyberry looked up at the prisoner podiums for a hint at what was happening, and Pure Vanilla pointed down his throat. 

Freezing death breath! Hollyberry realised a moment too late, the fast spreading coldness crawling onto her wing when the IceWing breathed out. As Fjord went to breath in again, she took the opportunity to breath fire directly down his throat, burning away the frost breath. She took the opportunity to lunge into him, and the crowd cheered, shouting even more gruesome methods of murder. All of them had one thing in common, blood. But Hollyberry wasn't going to give them the satisfaction.

"What are you doing!" Fjord cried, writhing furiously beneath her, "This isn't how MudWings fight! I was trained in MudWing strategies!"

"Well I wasn't." Hollyberry replied, and her grip on Fjord's neck tightened. 

The icewing gasped and tried to shoot his deadly ice breath but nothing came out. Hollyberry started twisting Fjord's neck the wrong way, and an instant wave of guilt overcame her. But it didn't stop her from doing what needed to be done, and with a loud cracking noise Hollyberry knew that she had become a murderer. The crowd had mixed opinions on the fight.

"Well that was short, and boring." Queen Scarlet spoke up over the crowd, "But that will be all for today."

~~~

Later that day when night fell Pitaya visited again, with a mangled, overcooked animal that she couldn't identify. Hollyberry greedily devoured it anyways, and it tasted way better than any meal she had ever eaten.

"You did great today." He said, sitting on the edge of the podium.

"I'm not exactly proud of it but thanks." Hollyberry replied, and they fell into silence once more.

She reckoned the other dragon was unsure what to say. She could tell by the fact he kept stealing glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking, and had a deep pensive expression.

"Can I do anything for you?" Pitaya asked eventually.

"Well, my wing kinda hurts. Maybe you could get something for it?" Hollyberry told him, and the SkyWing got closer (but not too close) to observe the wound from Fjord's frost breath, "It feels better with you near it, your heat I mean."

Pitaya smiled a bit, and then his whole face lit up, "I know what will help you feel better. Sssstay here, I'll be back!"

He took off into the night sky, colouring it with his flaming scales. As if I'm going to go anywhere, she thought. Moments later he returned with a bucket full of warm brown stuff.

"It'ssss mud." Pitaya explained, scooping up a handful of it and throwing it at his wing.

Hollyberry flinched as the warm substance made contact with her wing, "Why are you doing that?"

"I can't touch you to apply it carefully, since I have firescales and all." The SkyWing reminded her, throwing more mud at her wing.

After a lot of warm mud being thrown, Hollyberry started to feel better. Pitaya sat beside her once he had finished tending to her wound, closer to her than he was before but still a safe distance away.

"Have you ever considered leaving?" The MudWing asked curiously, "I mean, you must be the most powerful dragon here, it's not like anyone could stop you. You could take your sister and leave if you wanted to."

"But I don't want to." Pitaya replied, and she was surprised he hadn't taken that offensively, "I would never disobey her majessssty, and besssidessss, I have to eat black rockssss every day or I'll die. It's a  part of the cursssse of having too much fire. The black rockssss are very rare, I'm lucky her majesssssty finds them for me."

"Have you ever tried not eating the black rocks?" Hollyberry questioned, mentally wondering what rocks tasted like.

"Yessss. Once when I was a lot younger." Pitaya told her, "I wassss mad at her majesssty for not telling me anything about my parents, so I refussssed to eat the rockssss. I got ssssick. Very ssssick. I've always eaten them ssssince.", He turned to her, "Oh, you look tired. I'll come back tomorrow and check up on you. Good night!"

Just like the previous night, he disappeared somewhere towards the palace. Hollyberry certainly didn't feel tired, in fact she felt very awake, but she knew she would need sleep for the coming day. So she closed her eyes, and was surprised at how fast a nightmare filled sleep found her.