Games of fire

Moonwatcher

Moonwatcher stood in the crowd, staring up at the platform. On it, there was one sandwing, smiling like she was going to share a secret with everyone, not announce their imminent deaths.
"Let's start with the boys, shall we?"
She reached into the clear glass jar on the pedestal on the right.

At the bottom of the jar, there were about six scrolls. Inside, written on the small scrolls, were the names of every male nightwing between the ages of four and ten.

These nightwings were going to be sent to the sand kingdom, where they were going to be sent to an unknown location, and forced to fight to the death. These games were eventually going to wipe out the nightwings, by killing the dragonets two by two. This was their punishment for not supporting Burn in the war. It was the punishment of every tribe apart from the sandwings.

The sandwing who was selecting the nightwings plucked up one of them and announced:
"Bigtail, age six!"
Bigtail shuffled to the front of the crowd and tripped walking up to the platform. He was close to having a heart attack, and you didn't need to be a mind reader to know that.

Moonwatcher's head was hurting intensely. All of the dragonets were scared that they might be selected. If you were selected, you might get killed. If you win, you never came back. Either way, you never saw your tribe again. It must be terrible to just leave your family. If you said no, you were whipped. If you tried to resist  you were killed.

The sandwing reached into the jar for the girls. There was slightly less scrolls, and Moon's name was on one of them.
The sandwing pulled out one of the scrolls, and enrolled it so slowly that it hurt.
"Moonwatcher, age six!"
She felt her head spinning. Her? Chosen? To represent the nightwings?! If things kept going on like this, nightwings would never have a victor.
At the back of the crowd, she heard her mother scream
"No! Don't take her!"

Moon couldn't process what was happening. It all seemed like a dream. Slowly she walked up to the platform. She stood on the left of the sandwing.

This was it. The last time she would see her tribe. The whole tribe stared up at them with pity. She felt tears well in her eyes. Why did Burn have to do this? Because sandwings find it entertaining. They all watch this because this is fun for them. To them, it's a game. Not dragonets being killed for no reason.

Sandwings: a tribe of merciless self-absorbed dictators, led by the most ruthless queen who had ever lived. A queen named Burn.

She would never love a sandwing. She would never even consider liking a sandwing. They looked down on other tribes like they were pawns with no use.

She looked down. At her feet, there were small indentations in the wood. Mindreader had made them last year. She had died on the first day, along with her partner. The first games of fire had been a bit of a bloodbath.

"And there we have it! The selected for the second annual games of fire!"

Moon and Bigtail were led off stage. The sandwing led them into the rainforest, followed by an excessive number of guards. After a while, they reached a clearing. It looked deliberate, like someone had come and cut down all the trees. She was hit with a feeling, like someone had ripped a tear in reality, like something was here that shouldn't be.

Bigtail's thoughts started to get bitter, like he was being reminded of very bad memories. Two sandwing guards walked up to a boulder in the middle of the clearing. They pulled back some vines to reveal a gaping hole. She felt a warm breeze.

"As you probably already know, this was the hole which Blister was going to use to help the nightwings take over the rainforest." She explained. "An army of sandwings were going to come through this hole, and attack the rainwings, whilst the nightwings attacked from the other side." A branch snapped behind her, and Moon Jumped. The sandwing calmly turned her head. "Ah, here come your competitors." She said tot he two nightwings.

Two rainwings were bought into the clearing, followed by even more sandwings. They had metal bands around their snouts, so they couldn't open their mouths. The sandwing that was accompanying the nightwing dragonets slapped her own forehead.
"Oh, I'm so silly! I forgot these!"
She held out two similar bands.

She walked up to Moon and slid one on her snout. It fit almost perfectly. Another one was attached around Bigtail's.

The female rainwing had somehow found a positive side to her getting chosen. The male was trying to decide wether he should just quickly grab that mango above his head.

"Ladies first." announced the sandwing.
Moon and the female rainwing walked into the hole. They were pushed through a long, dark tunnel. She  burst into the light, and felt the scorching heat of the desert.

It was warm like the rainforest, but harsher. There was a well-worn path leading to a shape in the distance. Burn's stronghold. One of the sandwings poked her in the ribs with a spear.
"Less staring." he said. "More moving."
She looked at Bigtail, shivering despite the heat, and started to walk down the path.