Abandoned: A Wings of Fire Fanfic

Epilogue (/The End)

Queen Scarlet looked down at Kestrel's daughter.

"I have a perfect job for you," she murmured.

"Er, Queen Scarlet, may I ask what you plan to do with this dragonet?" Osprey asked.

"Her name shall be... Peril. That fits. She shall be my champion. An unbeatable champion. Then no one shall get to go free."

Osprey ignored the fact that Queen Scarlet's prisoners never got free, as no amount of wins could be 'enough' for her. "But shouldn't we throw her off the cliff? That is SkyWing tradition."

"Tradition has never stopped me before. It won't stop me now. And you are boring me. Shut your snout, or I will have to have you killed," Queen Scarlet hissed.

Osprey wisely kept his snout shut.

"You two!" Queen Scarlet pointed at a pair of guards. "Bring something to carry Peril to the palace." 

"Very well, Your Majesty," the first guard said as they took off for the palace.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Kestrel flew right, straight, left, left, and twisted and turned, to try to escape the guards that pursued her.

Eventually they gave up. They would probably tell Scarlet that they had lost her instead of how they had just decided they were done with it and gone back. The punishment would be less severe then.

All Kestrel wanted to do was to get some rest and something to eat, but she had a certain thing she wanted to do first.

I want to find my son.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Kestrel flew over the river, following it downriver. She knew that her dragonet could've washed up on the banks anywhere, so she had kept an eye out for trodden paths in the grass.

After turning a curve in the river, she had seen a big flat rock where it seemed ropes had been bitten, though the bite marks looked smaller than a dragon's. Kestrel had given it a glance and went on her way, not knowing that the scavenger who had escaped those bonds was closely tied with the dragonet she was searching the river for.

After Kestrel had spent hours searching for her son, she thought, I'll never find him. Not this way. And yet, what other way is there when you're cast out of your tribe?

So she sighed, and accepted that she wouldn't find him. She wished it could've gone differently, but she knew that there was no other way. The SkyWing looked at the sun's position in the sky, surprised to see that it was already setting. Kestrel knew she needed to find a place to stay.

I guess I have to go to the 'just in case' cave. This is a situation that requires it.

Her 'just in case' cave was on the edge of the mountains. She had known about it for a while, but never had to use it. She didn't think anyone else in the Sky Kingdom knew about it, though - it was pretty small, and easily overlooked, and its opening was down in a canyon - so it would be a safe place to stay.

She flew past mountain upon mountain, hill upon hill to get there. It was deep in the night when she arrived, and the three moons were shining brightly in the sky.

Perhaps I should've rested somewhere along the way, and came here tomorrow. And yet, even though she thought that, she knew that she wouldn't have had time to find a good enough hiding spot before it was completely dark and she wouldn't have been able to see.