Wings Of Fire; The Fate Begins: The Dragonet Prophecy

Chapter 2: The Start Of A Plan

Clay swept the bones of dinner into the river with his tail. The stripped white shapes bounced away in the river.

Fires flickered around the edges of the great central cave. Echoing space yawned overhead, dripping with stalactites, like huge teeth. The cave dome was big enough for twelve full grown dragons to fit across with their wings extended. The underground river flowed along one wall, muttering and gurgling as if it were plotting its own escape.

Clay glanced at the two small sleeping caves that opened onto the hall—currently empty—and wondered where the other dragonets had gone while he was cleaning up.

"Aha!" yelled a voice from behind him. Clay threw his wings over his head.

"What'd I do?" He yelped. "I'm sorry! It was an accident! Or if it's the extra cow, Dune said I could have it because Webs would be out late but I'm sorry and I can skip dinner tomorrow!"

A small snout poked his back between his wings. "Calm down, silly," Sunny said. "I wasn't aha-ing at you."

"Oh." Clay smoothed his crest and twisted around to look at her, the smallest and last-hatched of the dragonets. A pale lizard was disappearing into her mouth. She grinned at him.

"That was my fierce hunting cry," she said. "Did you like it? Wasn't it scary?"

"Well, it was certainly surprising," he said. "Lizards again? What's wrong with cows?"

"Blech. Too heavy," she said. "You look all serious."

"Just thinking." He was glad that Kestrel and Dune couldn't read minds like NightWing or DayWing dragons. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about the idea of the escape all through dinner.

Clay lifted one of his wings, and Sunny nestled in close to him. He could feel the warmth from her golden scales radiating along his side. Sunny was too small and the wrong color—tawny gold instead of sand pale like most SandWings—but she gave off the heat like the rest of her tribe.

"Dune says we should go study for an hour before bed," she said. "The others are in the steady cave already."

Dune, the maimed dragon who taught them survival skills, was a SandWing and so was Sunny...more or less. There was something not quite right about the littlest dragonet. Not only were her scales too golden, but her eyes were gray-green instead of glittering black. Worst of all, her tail curled into an ordinary tail like the tails of most dragon tribes, instead of ending with the poisonous barb that was a SandWing's most dangerous weapon.

As Kestrel often said, Sunny was completely harmless...and what good was a harmless dragon? But her egg fit the instructions in the prophecy, so she was their "wings of sand," whether the Talons Of Peace liked it or not.

Of course, there was no "wings of rain" in the prophecy at all. The dragonets had all heard—many times over—about how Glory were just here to make up a fifth dragon. Kestrel called her a mistake and growled at her a lot.

There was also Caribbean who was half SeaWing and SkyWing. She was also brought here to make up a fifth dragon alongside Glory. Kestrel called her a freak and growled at her a lot too.

There was also Aria. She was a SkyWing so Clay assumed that Kestrel will treat her better because Aria could breathe out fire breath. But Aria could also breathe out electric breath which SkyWings should only breathe out fire. As a result, Kestrel called Aria defective and growled at her a lot.

There was also Ember. She was a SkyWing too so Clay thought that Kestrel will treat her better because Ember could breathe out fire breath. But Ember can also breathe out grass breath instead of just fire breath which SkyWings are only supposed to breathe out fire. As a result, Kestrel called her defective and growled at her a lot.