King of The Dragons (Wings of Fire X Monster Hunter)

Part 2: Chapter 11, 12, & 13

The next morning, three SkyWing guards arrived to unchain Stromcaller. One was orange while the other two were different shades of red. Stormcaller hadn't slept well last night because of the nightmare. "What's going on?" he asked tiredly as they unclipped the wires around his legs.

"Private audience with the queen," sniffed one. Stormcaller made a "hmm" sound. He looked over to see that Clay was missing. 'He must be going to meet the queen too.' As the guards flew him down, Stormcaller noticed that Starflight's perch was empty and the guards that were grabbing Tsunami finally got her under control. They must have grabbed the NightWing while he was still asleep.

As they reached the sandy ground, Stormcaller glanced back to see some SkyWings picking up Tsunami and heading in his direction. The SeaWing was still lashing out and swinging her powerful tail at them in fury. Stormcaller could have used this moment to escape but a part of him told him to stay with these dragonets.

The guards started walking him towards the tunnel that lead out of the arena. He walked into the smoky tunnel, lit with flaming torches and an occasional skylight cut through the rock overhead. The tunnel was wide enough for three dragons to walk side by side, wings spread. It sloped upward through the mountain, into the SkyWing palace.

At one point they passed a large cave with tall narrow windows cut into walls, casting bars of sunlight on the stone floor. A pool of water separated the cave from the tunnel. On one wall hung a full length portrait of Queen Scarlet, staring majestically down her nose. There were a few copper scales on the floor so Stormcaller assumed it was Peril's room. There was nothing else in the room. Probably because if there were any animal skins or scrolls, they would be set ablaze as soon as she touched them.

Soon the sound of clattering and clinking filled the hallway, as if a crowd of dragons were busily hurrying about. Then the passage way opened out into a vast hall and he saw exactly what he was hearing.

He was standing on a balcony with no railing, two levels up from the ground floor. The balcony ran all the way around the hall in a large square, and above it Stormcaller could see five more levels of balconies, and above that, the open sky. Dragons were hurrying everywhere, glowing in the light. Large windows were cut into the walls all the way up, so the hall was flooded with sunshine. The floors blazed as little rivers of fire ran through them.

Stormcaller was familiar with the sight of sunlight reflecting off of gold. There was a talon print like design, inlaid with gold, running through the stone under his talons. Gold veins were carved into the walls as well, some of them branching into flames or tracing shapes like clouds in the rock. Stormcaller had only met Fireheart's girlfriend twice before they disappeared and she probably owned more gold than there was in all of Pyrrhia.

Scarlet was wealthy, very wealthy. She did this to show how powerful she was. Even with all this gold at their claw tips, no dragon dared to dig it out and steal it.

The guards led him in the direction where the gold talon print led. Stormcaller followed the trail, occasionally glancing at the dragons bustling around the hall. SkyWings flew from level to level, hopping across the giant space and dodging wings and tails as they went. Some of them exchanged small message scrolls in midair; others were carrying buckets of water or clean animal skins or platters of food. Everyone seemed either very busy or as if they were trying to look very busy.

Soon he entered Queen Scarlet's throne room. the queen was siting on top of a rock column carved in the shape of clouds, staring down at the dragons on the floor below her. The wall opposite of her was entirely open to the sky, revealing a steep drop and jagged rock below. The gold tracery in the rocks and floor went over the top in here, as if a Kulve Taroth came in here and vomited gold everywhere.