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

Part 2: Chapter 9 & 10

Part Two: Burn's Stronghold

(3rd Pov Sunny)

The outer walls of the palace were dripping with blood.
Sunny had ready the scrolls about the SandWings stronghold, and she'd seen it from afar, but nothing could have prepared her for the smell of the decapitated dragon heads that studded the top of the walls, or the gruesome stains on the stones below them.

They were still more than a mile away when the horrible rotting smell first reached her, making her choke and nearly driving her out of the sky.
Addax caught her as she faltered toward the sand.
"Shallow breaths," he advised. "You get used to it."
"Do you? Really?" Sunny asked.
He shrugged, which as far as she could tell meant "no."

Ostrich had been released during the night, shooting one last terrified look at Sunny before bolting back toward the distant fires of the Scorpion Den. Sunny thought that Addax had deliberately freed the dragonet while the Den was still visible behind them. Optimistically she thought perhaps he was concerned for Ostrich's safety; it seemed kind not to make her find her way in total darkness.

She could almost hear her friends laughing at her in her head. ' "That's right, Sunny, your kidnapper is a real sweetheart. He's handing you over to Burn out of the goodness in his heart, too." '
But he was doing this for his family . . . for someone he cared about . . . Sunny glanced over at the scarred dragon and thought, 'There's more to his story. There's always more to everyone's story, if you bother to find out what it is.'

The sun had cleared the mountains when they came to the sentries; a pair of SandWings carrying long spears. Relentless heat beat down from the cloudless sky, making the smell much worse. Sunny's wings ached from flying so long without stopping. She could see the brownish-yellow walls of the stronghold up ahead, stained and crusted with the dark red and black gore that dripped from the grisly decorations.

It was a vast palace, far larger than she realized when she'd seen it from a distance. The ramparts seemed to stretch across the horizon, and Sunny guessed that two or three Scorpion Dens could fit inside, or about a thousand of the caves she'd grown up in.

"Hold it," said one of the sentries, swinging the spear toward them. He squinted. "Addax?"
"Ho there," said Addax. He waved a claw, and the dragons behind him all paused, beating the air and craning to see past his wings. Except for the blindfolded one Sunny assumed was Stormcaller, of course.

"Picked up some friends somewhere, I see," said the sentry, half jokingly. "Are you invading, or what's all this?"
"Brought a present for the queen," said Addax. He flicked his tail at Sunny, and she hissed at him. "Recognize this one?"
Both sentries drew in a quick breath. "From the party in the Sky Kingdom," said one of them. "Scarlet was going to give her to Queen Burn."

'That's where I've seen Addax,' Sunny realized. 'Bowing and scraping behind Burn as she examined me like a deformed gemstone, Before he got his scar.'
"And now I've found her and I'm giving her to the queen," said Addax smugly.
The sentry looked skeptically at their entourage. "And you need eight dragons to transport this midget creature safely?"

"I'm terrifying when you get to know me," Sunny volunteered. She heard a couple of the dragons behind her chuckle, but Addax shot them a stern look and they subsided, save for one that Sunny assumed was Stormcaller.
"Wait," said the other sentry. "Doesn't that mean she's - I mean, she's one of-"
"Yes," Addax said. "So stop delaying and let us through, all right?"

The sentries flapped aside, both of them examining Sunny intently as she and her escorts flew past them. In all of Sunny's fantasies about fulfilling the prophecy and saving Prophecy, she'd never imagined there'd be quite so much staring.
And she certainly hadn't counted on getting locked up as often she she already had been.