CLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 5

    Clay woke the next morning to find a SkyWing soldier waiting for him. "You are wanted down in the arena," she informed him self-importantly.

"Uh, okay," Clay said. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Fight whoever the queen tells you to."

Clay went down to the arena. He was horrified to see Glory asleep in a tree-like structure and Sunny trapped in a little cage. "Hey! What are you doing to them?"

"The RainWing is Queen Scarlet's new artwork, and the SandWing, if she is a SandWing, is going to Queen Burn," the soldier explained.

"How come?"

"Because Queen Burn likes weird things. Now get ready." She flew away and sat down in the bleachers.

Clay glanced around. In a covered box, a menacing female SkyWing with a golden crown sat next to a large Sandwing. That must be the queens!

"First up today," announced Vermilion, "is the MudWing, uh-"

"Clay!" Clay called up.

"Clay!" Vermilion continued. "And he will be fighting the IceWing, Fjord! Place your bets!" Several dragons began going up and down the bleachers, taking everyone's bets.

A portcullis opened, letting in a huge IceWing. Clay gulped. There's no way I can fight him!

"And... begin!" shouted Vermilion. The IceWing leaped at Clay, who ducked and tried to run.

He spotted Tsunami on top of one of the towers. She seemed to be yelling something. He paused and listened closely. "Look out!"

Clay turned around and saw Fjord about to use his frostbreath on him. He jumped out of the way and fell over. The IceWing grinned in triumph, then fell to the ground screaming.

Clay sat up, wondering why he wasn't dead. Fjord had sticky black stuff on the side of his face, making a faint hissing sound.

"NO!" Queen Scarlet was on her feet, glaring at Clay. "He was winning! How did the MudWing do that?"

"Calm down, Scarlet," Burn said. "You're going to get high blood pressure."

"Fine," Scarlet said, sitting back down. "Someone bring the body away, and take the MudWing back to the top of that pillar."

"Next up," said Vermilion, "Peril the champion against my little brother Hawk!"

"What?" yelped Hawk. Four soldiers grabbed him and threw him into the arena. "Why me?"

Vermilion took out an official-looking scroll and read from it. "Hawk, son of Queen Scarlet, is sentenced to fight in the arena for treason."

"All I did was date your girlfriend!" Hawk wailed.

"Exactly," said Vermilion. "Now you must die." He snapped his claws. "Peril!"

A pretty copper SkyWing with gold veins on her wings ran into the arena. She had smoke rising from her scales. Is she burning on the inside? wondered Clay, who was back on top of the pillar.

Hawk tried to fly away, but Peril ran up to him and slapped him in the face. His head was immediately set on fire and he burned to death. "Peril wins!" shouted Vermilion. "That's all for today, folks! See you next time in Scarlet's Arena!"

"Cut!" said the director. The TV guys packed up their cameras and drove away in a minivan.

Peril flew up to Clay's tower. "Hi!" she said. Clay leaned away, worried about being burned.

"Hi," he said. "Ummm... how did you burn that guy's head off?"

"Hawk? Oh, I never liked him." Peril stretched her wings out and Clay took a step back. "I'm a firescales. And the queen's champion because I've never been defeated."

"Okay." Clay really wished he would never have to fight Peril.

"So are you really the prophecy dragonets?" the SkyWing asked. "That's what everyone's saying. I thought you didn't... have a SkyWing anymore." She flinched as though remembering something.

"We're supposed to stop the war," Clay said. "But we don't really know how because we lived in a cave for our whole lives."

Peril started laughing so hard that she fell off the spire. Clay ran up to the edge. "Peril!"

She flew back up. "Sorry," she giggled. "You lived in a cave?"

"Yeah?"

"So you're cavemen!" She began laughing again and fell forward, hitting her head, then tumbled off the pillar.

Without thinking, Clay darted forward and grabbed Peril before she could fall. He expected his talons to set on fire like Hawk's head, but they remained the same. Pulling her up onto the tower, he asked, "Why was that so funny you had to fall over?"

Peril wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. "You know, cavemen live in caves, and..." She realized that he wasn't laughing. "Never mind."

Suddenly she brightened. "Hey, you can touch me!" She reached out and touched his wing. "Wow! I've never touched another dragon before except when Queen Scarlet told me to kill them!"

"That is not reassuring," said Clay.

Peril winced. "Right. Sorry."

"PERIIIILLL!" Scarlet called just then. "Stop socializing with the prisoners! You're probably going to kill them soon and it's no use getting attached!"

"Gotta go," said Peril. "I will definitely try not to kill you."

"Thanks," Clay said. "See you later."

Peril flew away. Clay lay down and fell asleep, hoping not to fight anyone tomorrow.