Wings Of Fire Pdf Online

CONTENTS
HALF-TITLE PAGE
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
MAP OF PYRRHIA
A GUIDE TO THE DRAGONS OF PYRRHIA
WELCOME TO JADE MOUNTAIN ACADEMY!
MUDWINGS
SANDWINGS
SKYWINGS
SEAWINGS
RAINWINGS
ICEWINGS
NIGHTWINGS
THE JADE MOUNTAIN PROPHECY
PROLOGUE
PART ONE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
PART TWO
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
PART THREE
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO AVAILABLE
COPYRIGHT
At this school, you will be learning side by side with dragons from all the other tribes, so we wanted to give you some basic information that may be useful as you get to know one another.
You have been assigned to a winglet with six other dragons; the winglet groups are listed on the following page.
Thank you for being a part of this school. You are the hope of Pyrrhia’s future. You are the dragons who can bring lasting peace to this world.
WE WISH YOU ALL THE POWER OF WINGS OF FIRE!
JADE WINGLET
IceWing: Winter
MudWing: Umber
NightWing: Moonwatcher
RainWing: Kinkajou
SandWing: Qibli
SeaWing: Turtle
SkyWing: Carnelian
GOLD WINGLET
IceWing: Icicle
MudWing: Sora
NightWing: Bigtail
RainWing: Tamarin
SandWing: Onyx
SeaWing: Pike
SkyWing: Flame
SILVER WINGLET
IceWing: Changbai
MudWing: Sepia
NightWing: Fearless
RainWing: Boto
SandWing: Ostrich
SeaWing: Anemone
SkyWing: Thrush
COPPER WINGLET
IceWing: Alba
MudWing: Marsh
NightWing: Mindreader
RainWing: Coconut
SandWing: Pronghorn
SeaWing: Snail
SkyWing: Peregrine
QUARTZ WINGLET
IceWing: Ermine
MudWing: Newt
NightWing: Mightyclaws
RainWing: Siamang
SandWing: Arid
SeaWing: Barracuda
SkyWing: Garnet
Description: thick, armored brown scales, sometimes with amber and gold underscales; large, flat heads with nostrils on top of the snout
Abilities: can breathe fire (if warm enough), hold their breath for up to an hour, blend into large mud puddles; usually very strong
Queen: Queen Moorhen
Students at Jade Mountain: Marsh, Newt, Sepia, Sora, Umber
Description: pale gold or white scales the color of desert sand; poisonous barbed tail; forked black tongues
Abilities: can survive a long time without water, poison enemies with the tips of their tails like scorpions, bury themselves for camouflage in the desert sand, breathe fire
Queen: since the end of the War of SandWing Succession, Queen Thorn
Students at Jade Mountain: Arid, Onyx, Ostrich, Pronghorn, Qibli
Description: red-gold or orange scales; enormous wings
Abilities: powerful fighters and fliers, can breathe fire
Queen: Queen Ruby (although some dragons still support Queen Scarlet, who may be alive and in hiding)
Students at Jade Mountain: Carnelian, Flame, Garnet, Peregrine, Thrush
Description: blue or green or aquamarine scales; webs between their claws; gills on their necks; glow-in-the-dark stripes on their tails/snouts/underbellies
Abilities: can breathe underwater, see in the dark, create huge waves with one splash of their powerful tails; excellent swimmers
Queen: Queen Coral
Students at Jade Mountain: Anemone, Barracuda, Pike, Snail, Turtle
Description: scales constantly shift colors, usually bright like birds of paradise; prehensile tails
Abilities: can camouflage their scales to blend into their surroundings; shoot a deadly venom from their fangs
Queen: Queen Glory
Students at Jade Mountain: Boto, Coconut, Kinkajou, Siamang, Tamarin
Description: silvery scales like the moon or pale blue like ice; ridged claws to grip the ice; forked blue tongues; tails narrow to a whip-thin end
Abilities: can withstand subzero temperatures and bright light, exhale a deadly frostbreath
Queen: Queen Glacier
Students at Jade Mountain: Alba, Changbai, Ermine, Icicle, Winter
Description: purplish-black scales and scattered silver scales on the underside of their wings, like a night sky full of stars; forked black tongues
Abilities: can breathe fire, disappear into dark shadows; once known for reading minds and foretelling the future, but no longer
Queen: Queen Glory (see recent scrolls on the NightWing Exodus and the RainWing Royal Challenge)
Students at Jade Mountain: Bigtail, Fearless, Mightyclaws, Mindreader, Moonwatcher
Beware the darkness of dragons,
Beware the stalker of dreams,
Beware the talons of power and fire,
Beware one who is not what she seems.
Something is coming to shake the earth,
Something is coming to scorch the ground.
Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice
Unless the lost city of night can be found.
Almost twenty-one years ago …
A dragon was fleeing across the dunes.
She didn’t dare fly. The sun had just risen into the cloudless blue expanse overhead. Up there, she’d be as easy to spot as one of the dark, circling buzzards that seemed to be waiting for her to die.
But I’m not going to die, she thought fiercely. Not today.
She ran with her sand-colored wings outstretched, hoping to catch any stirrings of wind, but the air was still and hot down on the desert floor. Her scales were baking; her back had never been so hot; her body was a sack of fire-heated stones she had to drag along behind her. Her earrings felt like twin pieces of the sun blazing against her skull. Brief, dazed visions of roasted lizards drifted in and out of her head. Sometimes she was the one on the spit, turning above the fire; sometimes she had fallen in and was staring up at them as they rotated slowly overhead and the flames licked around her.
Was that the sound of wingbeats in the distance?
She threw herself down and burrowed until she was hidden. A few layers below the surface, she found a cooler swathe of sand, and she drove her scalded talons into it.
I left the dates out to dry for too long. They’ve all shriveled up. Quicksand will be so disappointed in me.
She blinked and blinked again, trying to shake off the hallucination without moving. Her old boss had been
dead for years. She wasn’t in the kitchens anymore. She was running for her life. She couldn’t let the desert consume her mind right now.
The flickering shadows of two dragons swept past. She stayed still, buried, until the wingbeats were long gone.
And then she was up and running again.
It can’t be much farther, she thought desperately. Of course, the journey never seemed this long when she flew. But she’d been running for half the night and surely the sun had risen hours ago. What if I’m lost? Or what if she moved without telling me? It had been almost a year since her last visit …
Something wavered on the blurry horizon — a hut? A tree? The dragon shifted course to aim for it, but as she got closer, it disappeared again.
A mirage.
I’m losing it. But I can’t.
There’s too much at stake.
She stopped, closed her eyes, and concentrated fiercely.
SandWings were naturally adapted to desert conditions — better at handling heat and a lack of water than other dragon tribes. But even SandWings weren’t supposed to spend hours on the desert floor, running along the sand in the baking sun. They were supposed to get up and fly — to sweep from oasis to oasis on swift wings.
An oasis. She lives near that pool with the five palms. Maybe …
She strained her ears.
There — the faintest faraway sound of splashing, of a bucket plunging into water and coming out dripping.
She opened her eyes and ran toward it, determination in every muscle of her heavy body.
And finally there it was — the small hut by the pool, shaded by the five palm trees. She let out a cry of relief and stumbled, half sliding down the last dune and collapsing entirely into the water.
The door of the hut opened, and a sharp-eyed dragon emerged, wiping her claws on a small, sandy, dark green towel.
“Don’t drink too much,” she said acerbically. “If you’re sick in my oasis, you’re cleaning it up yourself.”
“I know,” said the fugitive, taking one more swallow and stopping reluctantly. She sat up, water streaming off her wings, and burst into tears. “Prickle, I’m in s-so much trouble.”
“Oh, by the circle of snakes,” her sister snapped, throwing the towel at her. “I told you to stay away from that prince. You should have left the palace with me when he first started mooning around the kitchens. I knew he’d get you killed sooner or later, and probably me too if I didn’t clear out.”
“Please help me,” Palm begged. “You were right. Of course you were right. I’m sorry I didn’t listen.”
“Are the queen’s guards chasing you right now?” Prickle said sharply. “Did you lead them to me? I will not be murdered for your mistakes.” She glanced up at the sky and took a step back toward her door.
“No, wait!” Palm floundered out of the pool and threw herself at her sister’s feet. “I was careful, I promise! I just need a place to hide for a few — even one day, just one day. Then I’ll keep running and you’ll never have to see me again, I swear.”
Prickle stared down her nose at Palm, flicking her wingtips crossly. Side by side, the two dragons were clearly sisters from the same hatching, with similar patterns of light brown scales freckled across their paler yellow scales. But Palm was rounder, softer, a creature with access to the bread and date sugar cookies of the palace kitchens, while Prickle had the lean, weathered look of a dragon who’d been living on her own in the desert for two years.
“Please,” Palm begged. “Can you help me?”
Prickle surveyed her coldly. Palm remembered the fight they’d had the first day Smolder stopped by the kitchen to compliment the camel stew. Prickle had seen the spark between them long before Palm realized that it was mutual. She’d thought it was innocent enough, having a crush on the handsome SandWing prince, and that Prickle was overreacting.
Until he came back … and then came back again … and then he invited her for a walk around the courtyards … and then they started meeting after dark and whispering about the future. Soon after that, Prickle moved out of the palace overnight, warning Palm to stay away from the royal family if she wanted to live.
“Fine,” Prickle said abruptly. “You can stay for one night if you give me your earrings.”
“What?” Palm reached up to touch the glowing fire opals in her ears. “These? But they were a gift from —”
“I know,” said her sister. “They’re much too expensive for you to afford on your wages. I’ll get a whole lot of gold for them in the Scorpion Den.”
My last connection to Smolder, Palm thought sadly.
“Hand them over,” said Prickle, “or keep flying right now.”
Palm knew her wings and talons couldn’t make it another foot.
Her claws were shaking as she reached up, unclasped the earrings, and dropped them into Prickle’s palm.
It’s not my last connection, she reminded herself. I have something more important now.
“Pretty,” said her sister, examining the opals. “Maybe I’ll keep them instead of selling them.” She fastened them into her own ears, where they glittered smug little “I told you so” faces at Palm. “Now stop blubbering and tell me what happened.”
“We tried to elope,” Palm admitted. She wiped her eyes with the towel, leaving trails of sticky wet sand across her face.
Prickle let out a frustrated growl. “You have the brains of a sun-addled camel.”
“I know,” Palm sniffled. “But … we had to.”
Prickle’s gaze flashed over Palm’s figure. “I take it back. Sun-addled camels at least still have a survival instinct.” She turned and swept into the hut and Palm hurried after her.
It was blissfully cool inside compared to the scorching heat Palm had been running through for so long. A red curtain covered the only window, casting the room in shades of blood and rubies. Prickle stepped over to a low table, picked up a small mirror, and tilted her head to admire the earrings.
“You brought this on yourself,” she pointed out self-righteously.
“But it isn’t fair!” Palm burst out. “Why can’t he fall in love? Why does his whole life have to be wasted just so his mother won’t feel threatened? Other royal families aren’t like this.” She rubbed her eyes angrily. “Besides,” she muttered, “it could be male, and then no one would even care about it.”
Prickle rolled her eyes. “Finish your stupid story.”
“We were supposed to meet by the caravan gate before midnight,” Palm said. “We were going to go west, or maybe south, and find a small oasis where we could live in peace, just like you did.”
“I didn’t bring a prince or a secret potential heir to the throne into my hideout,” her sister observed. She took down two bowls from a shelf and began rummaging in a sack. For food, Palm hoped.
“Well, the guards showed up before he did,” Palm said, her wings drooping. “I don’t know how they knew about me or our plans.” She sat down in the corner, twisting the green towel between her claws.
“I have three guesses,” Prickle growled, “and they all begin with B.”
She was probably right. Palm had always felt the eyes of the three SandWing princesses on her — Burn’s ferocious glare, Blister’s malevolent scrutiny, even gossipy Blaze’s watchful curiosity. Smolder tried to meet Palm in secret, but perhaps there was no such thing as a true secret in the palace.
Well … maybe one, she thought, touching her stomach.
“I was able to escape,” she said. “They heard him coming and got distracted, and I bolted. But I know they’re looking for me. Oasis won’t let them stop until they find me.”
“Smolder’s probably already dead,” Prickle said heartlessly. “You’ll never be able to go back to the palace. If Oasis doesn’t get you, one of her daughters will.”
“I know,” Palm said, her eyes filling with tears again. Oh, Smolder, I’ll miss you so much.
“Shhh!” Prickle’s head shot up. Her ears flicked toward the door of
the hut. Her venomous tail lifted slowly, menacingly, over her head.
The two sisters waited in petrified silence for several long heartbeats.
“Are you sure you weren’t followed?” Prickle whispered harshly.
“I’m sure!” Palm whispered back.
“Then what was —?” Prickle started, but her question was interrupted by the unmistakable thump thump thump of talons landing heavily on the sand outside.
“Oh moons,” Palm whispered in terror. She shrank back against the wall as the door was flung open and two SandWing soldiers burst into the room.
“I knew it!” crowed the male soldier. “I told you I heard her sister had a place out here!”
The other soldier winced, and her eyes locked with Palm’s.
She knew this dragon. Agave — she’s the little one who was so scared the first few days in the wingery. Palm was only a year older, but she’d worried about the frightened dragonet. She’d shared her snacks and convinced Agave to play dragons and vipers until she calmed down.
But that was a long time ago. Agave was a full-grown soldier now, big-shouldered and long-clawed. She flicked her tail up and frowned at Palm.
“Yeah, you were right, Torch,” she said. “Good thinking. All right, you prince-loving traitor, time to come with us.”
She stepped forward and snapped a pair of shackles around Prickle’s wrists.
Palm’s gasp was drowned out by the snarl of outrage from her sister.
“I’m not Palm!” Prickle roared. “She is! I’m not stupid enough to sneak around with a sand snorter like Smolder! Take these off!”
“Nice try,” Agave said, seizing Prickle’s neck and slamming her back into the wall. The two bowls wobbled and one fell, spilling coconut milk into the sand.
“I’m not,” Prickle wheezed. She clawed at Agave’s talons. “Palm, tell them.”
Palm couldn’t find her voice. She couldn’t breathe. Did Agave really think —?
“Are you sure about this?” asked the other soldier nervously. “They do look alike. But I would have guessed that the other one was Palm — I mean — it’s hard to tell — but —”
“This one is Palm,” said Agave calmly. “I knew her in the wingery. Besides, look at her earrings.” She turned Prickle’s head so the jewels glowed in the dim red light. “Those came from the prince, no doubt about it. I hear she’s been wearing them around the palace.”

Darkness of Dragons by Tui T. Sutherland / Fantasy / Actions & Adventure / Young Adult have rating

Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Map of Pyrrhia
A Nightwing Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia
Sandwings
Mudwings
Skywings
Seawings
Icewings
Rainwings
Nightwings
The Dragonet Prophecy
Prologue
Part One
Under the Mountain
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Part Two
In the Sky Kingdom
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Part Three
An Egg the Color of Dragon Blood
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
The Adventure Continues
Copyright
Description: pale gold or white scales the color of desert sand; poisonous barbed tail; forked black tongues
Abilities: can survive a long time without water, poison enemies with the tips of their tails like scorpions, bury themselves for camouflage in the desert sand, breathe fire
Queen: Since the death of Queen Oasis, the tribe is split between three rivals for the throne: sisters Burn, Blister, and Blaze.
Alliances: Burn fights alongside SkyWings and MudWings; Blister is allied with the SeaWings; and Blaze has the support of most SandWings as well as an alliance with the IceWings.
Description: thick, armored brown scales, sometimes with amber and gold underscales; large, flat heads with nostrils on top of the snout
Abilities: can breathe fire (if warm enough), hold their breath for up to an hour, blend into large mud puddles; usually very strong
Queen: Queen Moorhen
Alliances: currently allied with Burn and the SkyWings in the great war
Description: red-gold or orange scales; enormous wings
Abilities: powerful fighters and fliers, can breathe fire
Queen: Queen Scarlet
Alliances: currently allied with Burn and the MudWings in the great war
Description: blue or green or aquamarine scales; webs between their claws; gills on their necks; glow-in-the-dark stripes on their tails/snouts/underbellies
Abilities: can breathe underwater, see in the dark, create huge waves with one splash of their powerful tails; excellent swimmers
Queen: Queen Coral
Alliances: currently allied with Blister in the great war
Description: silvery scales like the moon or pale blue like ice; ridged claws to grip the ice; forked blue tongues; tailsnarrow to a whip-thin end
Abilities: can withstand subzero temperatures and bright light, exhale a deadly freezing breath
Queen: Queen Glacier
Alliances: currently allied with Blaze and most of the SandWings in the great war
Description: scales constantly shift colors, usually bright like birds of paradise; prehensile tails
Abilities: can camouflage their scales to blend into their surroundings, use their prehensile tails for climbing; no known natural weapons
Queen: Queen Dazzling
Alliances: not involved in the great war
Description: purplish-black scales and scattered silver scales on the underside of their wings, like a night sky full of stars; forked black tongues
Abilities: can breathe fire, disappear into dark shadows, read minds, foretell the future
Queen: a closely guarded secret
Alliances: too mysterious and powerful to be part of the war
When the war has lasted twenty years . . .
the dragonets will come.
When the land is soaked in blood and tears . . .
the dragonets will come.
Find the SeaWing egg of deepest blue.
Wings of night shall come to you.
The largest egg in mountain high
will give to you the wings of sky.
For wings of earth, search through the mud
for an egg the color of dragon blood.
And hidden alone from the rival queens,
the SandWing egg awaits unseen.
Of three queens who blister and blaze and burn,
two shall die and one shall learn
if she bows to a fate that is stronger and higher,
she’ll have the power of wings of fire.
Five eggs to hatch on brightest night,
five dragons born to end the fight.
Darkness will rise to bring the light.
The dragonets are coming. . . .
A dragon was trying to hide in the storm.
Lightning flickered across the dark clouds. Hvitur clutched his fragile cargo closer. If he could make it over the mountains, he’d be safe. He’d escaped the sky dragons’ palace unseen. And the secret cave was so close. …
But his theft had not been as stealthy as he thought, and eyes as black as obsidian were already tracking him from below.
The enormous dragon on the mountain ledge had pale gold scales that radiated heat like a desert horizon. Her black eyes narrowed, watching the gleam of silver wings far up in the clouds.
She flicked her tail, and behind her two more dragons rose to the sky and dove into the heart of the storm. A piercing shriek echoed off the mountains as their talons seized the moon-pale ice dragon.
“Bind his mouth,” the waiting dragon ordered as her soldiers dropped Hvitur on the slick, wet ledge in front of her. He was already inhaling, ready to attack. “Quickly!”
One of the soldiers grabbed a chain from the pile of smoldering coals. He threw it around the ice dragon’s snout, clamping his jaws together with a sizzling smell of burning scales. Hvitur let out a muffled scream.
“Too late.” The sand dragon’s forked tongue slithered in and out of her mouth. “You won’t be using your freezing-death breath on us, ice dragon.”
“He was carrying this, Queen Burn,” said one of the soldiers, handing her a dragon egg.
Burn squinted at the egg through the downpour. “This is not an IceWing egg,” she hissed. “You stole this from the SkyWing palace.”
The IceWing stared back at her. Hissing steam circled his snout where the hot chains met cold silver scales.
“You thought you got away unnoticed, didn’t you?” Burn said. “My SkyWing ally is not a fool. Queen Scarlet knows everything that happens in her kingdom. Her lookouts reported an IceWing thief sneaking away, and I decided finding you might add some violence to my boring visit.”
Burn held the large egg up to the
light of the fire and turned it slowly. Red and gold shimmered below the pale, smooth surface.
“Yes. This is a SkyWing egg about to hatch,” Burn mused. “Why would my sister send you to steal a SkyWing dragonet? Blaze hates any dragon younger and prettier than she is.” She thought for a moment as rain drummed on the ledge around them. “Unless … the brightest night is tomorrow. …”
Her tail flicked up like a scorpion’s, the poisonous barb inches from Hvitur’s eyes. “You’re not in Blaze’s army, are you? You’re one of those insipid underground peacemongers.”
“The Talons of Peace?” said one of the soldiers. “You mean they’re real?”
Burn snorted. “A few worms crying over a little blood. Unwrap his chains. He won’t be able to freeze us until his scales cool down.” The enormous sand dragon leaned closer as her soldier pulled the chain away. “Tell me, ice dragon, do you really believe in that pompous old NightWing’s prophecy?”
“Haven’t enough dragons died for your war?” snarled Hvitur, wincing at the pain in his jaws. “All of Pyrrhia has suffered for the last twelve years. The prophecy says —”
“I don’t care. No prophecy decides what happens to me,” Burn interrupted. “I’m not letting a bunch of words or baby dragons choose when I die or what I bow to. We can have peace when my sisters are dead and I am queen of the SandWings.” Her venomous tail dipped closer to the silver dragon.
Rain pattered on Hvitur’s scales. He glared up at her. “The dragonets are coming, whether you like it or not, and they’ll choose who the next SandWing queen should be.”
“Really?” Burn stepped back and turned the egg slowly between her talons. Her forked tongue slipped in and out of her smile. “So, IceWing. Is this egg a part of your pathetic prophecy?”
Hvitur went still.
Burn tapped lightly on the eggshell with one long talon. “Hello?” she called. “Is there a dragonet of destiny in there? Ready to come out and end this big bad war?”
“Leave it alone,” Hvitur choked out.
“Tell me,” Burn said, “what becomes of your precious prophecy … if one of the five dragonets is never hatched at all?”
“You wouldn’t,” he said. “No one would harm a dragon egg.” His blue eyes were fixed desperately on her talons.
“No ‘wings of sky’ to help save the world,” Burn said. “What a sad, sad story.” She began tossing the egg from one front claw to the other. “I guess that means you should be very, very careful with this terribly important little — oops!”
With an exaggerated lunge, Burn pretended the wet egg was slipping through her talons … and then she let it fall over the side of the cliff into the rocky darkness below.
“No!” Hvitur shrieked. He threw off the two soldiers and flung himself toward the edge. Burn slammed her massive claws down on his neck.
“So much for destiny,” she smirked. “So much for your tragic little movement.”
“You’re a monster,” the IceWing gasped, writhing under her talons. His voice cracked with despair. “We’ll never give up. The dragonets — the dragonets will come and stop this war.”
Burn leaned down to hiss into his ear. “Even if they do — it’ll be far too late for you.” Her claws ripped through the silver dragon’s wings, shredding them as Hvitur shrieked in agony. With a swift movement, she stabbed her poisonous tail through his skull and flung the long, silver body over the edge of the cliff.
The ice dragon’s screams cut off long before the echoes of his corpse slamming into the rocks below.
The SandWing turned her black eyes to her soldiers. “Perfect,” she said. “That should be the last we hear about that stupid prophecy.” She held out her talons so the rain could wash away the glistening dragon blood. “Let’s go find something else to kill.”
The three dragons spread their wings and lifted off into the dark clouds.
Some time later, far below, a large dragon the color of rust crawled over the rocks to the broken body of the ice dragon. She nudged his tail aside and lifted a shard of eggshell from underneath it, then slipped back into the labyrinth of caves under the cliffs.
Stone walls brushed against her wings. She breathed out a plume of flame to light her way along the dark passage, deep into the mountain.
“I stand with the Talons of Peace,” hissed a voice in the shadows. “Kestrel? Is that you?”
“We await the wings of fire,” answered the red dragon. A blue-green SeaWing emerged from a side cave, and she tossed the eggshell at his feet. “Not that it’ll do us much good now,” she snarled. “Hvitur is dead.”
The SeaWing stared at the eggshell. “But — the SkyWing egg —”
“Broken,” she said. “Gone. It’s over, Webs.”
“It can’t be,” he said. “Tomorrow is the brightest night. The three moons will all be full for the first time in a century. The dragonets of the prophecy have to hatch tomorrow.”
“Well, one of them is already dead,” Kestrel said. Rage flickered in her eyes. “I knew I should have stolen the SkyWing egg myself. I know the Sky Kingdom. They wouldn’t have caught me a second time.”
Webs grimaced, scratching one claw over the gills along his neck. “Asha is dead, too.”
“Asha?” A spurt of flame shot from Kestrel’s nose. “How?”
“Caught in a battle between Blaze’s and Blister’s forces on the way here. She still made it with the red MudWing egg, but she died of her wounds soon after.”
“So it’s just you, me, and Dune to raise the little worms,” Kestrel growled. “For a prophecy that can never be fulfilled. Let’s break the cursed eggs now and be done with it. We’ll be long gone before the Talons of Peace return for the dragonets.”
“No!” Webs hissed. “Keeping the dragonets alive for the next eight years is more important than anything. If you don’t want to be part of that —”
“All right, enough,” Kestrel snapped. “I’m the strongest dragon in the Talons of Peace. You need me. It doesn’t matter how I feel about nasty little dragonets.” She eyed the eggshell on the floor, rubbing her scarred palms together. “Although I thought at least one of them would be a SkyWing.”
“I’ll find us a fifth dragonet.” Webs pushed past her, scales scraping against rock.
“There’s no way back into the Sky Kingdom, brainless,” she said. “They’ll be guarding the hatchery closely now.”
“Then I’ll get an egg somewhere else,” he said grimly. “The RainWings don’t even count their eggs — I could take one from the rain forest without anyone noticing.”
“Of all the horrible ideas,” Kestrel said with a shudder. “RainWings are wretched creatures. Nothing like SkyWings.”
“We have to do something,” Webs said. He hissed as his tail sent the eggshell skittering across the floor. “In eight years, the Talons of Peace will come looking for five dragonets. The prophecy says five, and we’re going to make it come true … whatever it takes.”
Six Years Later . . .
Clay didn’t think he was the right dragon for a Big Heroic Destiny.
Oh, he wanted to be. He wanted to be the great MudWing savior of the dragon world, glorious and brave. He wanted to do all the wonderful things expected of him. He wanted to look at the world, figure out what was broken, and fix it.
But he wasn’t a natural-hatched hero. He had no legendary qualities at all. He liked sleeping more than studying, and he kept losing chickens in the caves during hunting practice because he was paying attention to his friends instead of watching for feathers.
He was all right at fighting. But “all right” wasn’t going to stop the war and save the dragon tribes. He needed to be extraordinary. He was the biggest dragonet, so he was supposed to be the scary, tough one. The minders wanted him to be terrifyingly dangerous.
Clay felt about as
dangerous as cauliflower.
“Fight!” his attacker howled, flinging him across the cavern. Clay crashed into the rock wall and scrambled up again, trying to spread his mud-colored wings for balance. Red talons raked at his face and he ducked away. “Come on,” the red dragon snarled. “Stop holding back. Find the killer inside you and let it out.”
“I’m trying!” Clay said. “Maybe if we could stop and talk about it —”
She lunged for him again. “Feint to the left! Roll right! Use your fire!” Clay tried to duck under her wing to attack her from below, but of course he rolled the wrong way. One of her talons smashed him to the ground, and he yelped with pain.
“WHICH LEFT WAS THAT, USELESS?” Kestrel bellowed in his ear. “Are all MudWings this stupid? OR ARE YOU JUST DEAF?”
Well, if you keep that up, I will be soon, Clay thought. The SkyWing lifted her claws and he wriggled free.
“I don’t know about other MudWings,” he protested, licking his sore talons. “Obviously. But perhaps we could try fighting without all the shouting and see —” He stopped, hearing the familiar hiss that came before one of Kestrel’s fire attacks.
He threw his wings over his head, tucked his long neck in, and rolled into the maze of stalagmites that studded one corner of the cave. Flames blasted the rocks around him, singeing the tip of his tail.
“Coward!” the older dragon bellowed. She smashed one of the rock columns into a shower of sharp black pebbles. Clay covered his eyes and almost immediately felt her stamp down hard on his tail.
“OW!” he yelled. “You said stomping tails was cheating!” He seized the closest stalagmite between his claws and scrabbled up on top of it. From his perch near the roof, he glared down at his guardian.
“I’m your teacher,” Kestrel snarled. “Nothing I do is cheating. Get down here and fight like a SkyWing.”
But I’m NOT a SkyWing, Clay thought rebelliously. I’m a MudWing! I don’t like setting things on fire or flapping around in circles biting at dragon necks. His teeth still ached from Kestrel’s jewel-hard scales.