Wings Of Fire; The Fate Begins: The Dragonet Prophecy

Chapter 10: The Scavenger And The SkyWing Queen

"Not big enough to be a dragon," Caribbean whispered. "I think."

Now, Clay could hear a huffing, panting sound and the cracking of branches and Tsunami, Starflight, Aria, Glaze, Bubble, and Ember could hear a huffing, panting sound and the cracking of branches too. It sounded more prey than predator. He pried Caribbean's claws off and whispered, "Maybe we can eat it." They couldn't rescue the other three dragonets until sunrise anyway, and he wanted to test his hunting skills outside the caves.

A short, pale creature stumbled into the moonlight clearing in front of them. The top of its furry head was barely as high as Clay's shoulder. It had two long, thin legs and two long arms that ended in floppy, clawless talons. One arm held something pointy, like a giant dragon's claw, and the other was wrapped around a bulky sack.

It spotted Tsunami, Starflight, Aria, Glaze, Bubble, Ember, Caribbean, and Clay, dropped everything it was holding, and shrieked a long high-pitched note, like the birds that Clay had sometimes heard through the sky hole.

"It's a scavenger," Caribbean cried with delight. "Look, Tsunami, Starflight, Aria, Glaze, Bubble, Ember, and Clay! Our first time outside, and we're already seeing a real scavenger."

"It's so little," Clay said. "And look, it's scavenging something right now." He reached out to poke the bulky sack. The creature screamed again, backing away, and covering its head with its arms.

"I thought that they'd be scarier," Caribbean said, disappointed. "One of these killed Queen Oasis? Really?" She picked up the metal claw that it had been carrying, which is four times as long as a regular dragon claw. "I guess these are pretty sharp, but still...it must have been a very unlucky accident."

"Can we eat it?" Clay asked. His tongue flicked in and out.

"Brightglide says they're endangered," Caribbean said. "But I say that it's their fault that we're all in this war, so eat as many as you like." She swung the metal claw in a circle and glared down at the scavenger.

The scavenger was gibbering strange noises at them, waving it's arm at the sack and the metal claw. Some of it's movements were almost dragonlike, as if it was trying to communicate with them.

"Maybe it wants us to have whatever's in here," Clay said, picking up the sack. He upended it, and a pile of jewels and trinkets tumbled out, bouncing, and sparkling across the grass. Clay saw three large rubies, three large sapphires, three large emeralds, three large citrines, three large topazes, three large kunzites, three large amethysts, three large axinites, three large petalites, three large hematites, and a scattering of white diamonds among the gold shapes.

"Treasure," Caribbean cried. She picked up a silver medallion with a spiral carved into it, studded with tiny apatites, and a gold medallion with a spiral carved into it, studded with tiny lucites.

"Glory would love those," Clay said.

"So would I!" Caribbean said. "I know you like bringing her pretty things to cheer her up, but I saw these first."

Then Tsunami picked up a gold necklace with a sapphire etched into the pendant and Aria picked up a gold necklace with a ruby etched into the pendent.

"All right," Clay said diplomatically. "Maybe something else then. Can we keep all this treasure?"

"Certainly not," A new voice said. "Not unless you want to fight me for it, which I don't advise." An orange SkyWing, slightly bigger than Clay, landed soundlessly in the clearing behind the scavenger. Wreaths of smoke coiled around her necks. As the scavenger shrieked again, she bent down and hit of its head.

"Blech," she said, spitting it out immediately. The head bounced across the grass as the slowly body toppled over, blood pouring out of its neck.

"Now, that's just unfair," the orange dragon said. "First of all, thieves are always trying to to steal my secondary beautiful treasure. And then they aren't delicious when I catch them." She poked the body. "Too stringy and tasting like fish. Yuck."

"Who are you?" Caribbean asked. She was turning the medallions over between her claws as if she was wondering whether they might be fighting for.

The orange dragon stared at her, blankly. Then the orange dragon looked at Bubble and Ember.

"Whoo are you?" Bubble and Ember asked.

Then the orange dragon looked at Glaze.

"Who are you?" Glaze asked.

Then the orange dragon looked at Starflight.

"Who are you?" Starflight asked.

Then the orange dragon looked at Aria.

"Who are you?" Aria asked.

Then the orange dragon looked at Tsunami.

"Who are you?" Tsunami asked.

The orange dragon stared at Tsunami, her yellow eyes narrowing to slits. Clay noticed that a fine coat of golden chain, hung with rubes and amber drops, was fitted around the dragon's torso. A row of tiny rubies was embedded between the scales over each of her eyes, and more edged at the top of her wings. Whoever she was, she had a lot of secondary treasure, which meant that she must be important.

"You don't know who I am?" The orange dragon said. "How upsetting. I'm really very hurt. Either I need to get out more or you're not a good spy, are you, SeaWing?"

"I'm not a spy,!" Tsunami said. "And before you ask, the other SeaWing is not a spy either! We don't even know where we are. We've been held prisoner, kind off, and we just escaped."

The orange dragon tilted her head at Clay. "Two SeaWings, Two SkyWings, An IceWing, A NightWing, A SeaWing/SkyWing hybrid, and a MudWing together," the orange dragon said. "Let's see. I know that you're not from my dungeons, unless I'm getting horribly forgetful...so who was holding you? Blaze? I don't think she has prison camps. Wouldn't fit with her everybody-love-me act."

Clay took another step back. He didn't like the sound of dragons who had their own dungeons. Then Tsunami and Aria walked forward and gave the necklaces back to her and she took them and Tsunami and Aria walked back to their spots and then faced her. "Caribbean," Clay said quietly, "just give her back her treasure, and let's go."

"A MudWing using his head," the orange dragon said. "You don't see that very often." She slid toward Caribbean, stepping right through the scavenger's blood and leaving red claw prints on the grass. Small flames flickered in her nostrils, and a steady steam of smoke poured out and gathered more thickly around her horns.

"All right," Caribbean said, holding out the medallions. "We don't want any trouble."

"Oh, neither do I," the orange dragon said. "That's why it makes me so sad when trouble keeps coming to me." She grabbed the medallions and then shot a small flame at Caribbean but Caribbean dodged it and stood back up to face her. Then Clay started forward but the orange dragon shot a bolt of flame, so he had to duck back. Then the orange dragon glared at Tsunami. "Nobody touches my secondary treasure."

"We didn't know!" Tsunami and Bubble protested. "We don't even know who you are and we were just passing through!"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself," the orange dragon said. "My name is Scarlet. I used to be a princess when my mother was the SkyWing Queen but not anymore since I defeated her."

Clay inhaled sharply. Even he recognized that name.

They were standing face-to-face with the queen of the SkyWings.