Wings of Fire: Scorpion's Sting

Foreword
Please note that some characters
are in the official Wings of Fire book series and that this is a fan fiction
story (Book 1=graphic novel edition):
·        
SandWings: Horizon (1), Six Claws (5), Burn (1,
5) Blaze (1, 3, 5)
·        
SkyWings: Peril (1, 8), Queen Scarlet (1, 8)
·        
IceWings: none named
·        
SeaWings: Queen Coral (2, 9), Gill (1, 2, 9)
·        
MudWings: none named
·        
NightWings: Darkstalker (used as an expression)
·        
RainWings: Unincluded
Also, this story takes place exactly
three years before the beginning of The Dragonet Prophecy. At this
point, the dragonets have been hatched for three years. Peril is four or five
years old, and I’m pretty sure Six Claws was born into the Outclaws but I don’t
know. (P.S it’s technically Princess Blister/Blaze/Burn but it depends
on where loyalties lie.) Oh, and, I have no grudges against SkyWings. They're just the bad guys of the first book and I read it ALL THE TIME!
Also, For anyone who has read "Poison and Honey: a DeathWing Comic," This happens at around the same time.
The Dragonet Prophecy
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 will come to you. The largest egg in mountain high will
give to you wings of sky. For wings of earth search through the mud for an egg
the color of dragon blood. And hidden alone from 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...
Prologue
Sting was an incredible warrior. He
wasn’t afraid of any opponent, no matter how large or strong, and any had
fallen by his venomous tail. A deadly, unbeatable force on the battlefield. He
was battling a SkyWing and had nearly snapped his neck like a large branch
(given how hard it was) when a troop of MudWings came from behind him from the
sky. Two landed on him and pinned his tail, wings and claws, also initially
knocking the breath out of Sting.
 “Watch out for his tail, it’s venom is almost
as bad as a dragonbite viper,” the third MudWing warned. 
That’s right, you fools.
Clearly Scarlet knew a thing or two about us SandWings before sending you here.
Then again, that could cause a bit of a problem, Sting thought. He tried to
get up, but sadly, the weight of a MudWing is a huge force and there were two
pinning him down, making it hard for Sting to breathe.
Then the worst thing he could
have imagined happened. Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings herself, along with two
SkyWing guards with spears, had flown over to Sting and the large amount of
MudWings pinning him down. It was as if he had summoned her with his thoughts. Oh,
no. This isn’t good.''
“Take him. He’ll be a wonderful
addition to my arena, won’t you,” she said to Sting. Her eyes glistened with recognition
and Scarlet smiled a chilling smile. Sting’s heart skipped a beat as he looked
up at her and looked straight back down when he saw her eyes.
Sting’s mind and heart were
racing. Wait, arena doesn’t sound good, He thought. And why is
she looking at me like that? I’ve never seen her before! He tried weakly to
at least breathe a little fire at Scarlet, but before he could, the MudWing who
wasn’t sitting on him clamped his mouth shut with one talon. The fire came out
as a puff of smoke from his snout.
 He glared at Sting. “Don’t try it or I will
claw out your eyes,” the soldier warned.
“And on that note,” Scarlet
interrupted, “it’s time to go. Back to my palace with you, Sting.”
The MudWing holding Sting’s snout
shut released it to carry Sting and he immediately took the opportunity to
protest. “How do you know my name? You’ll never take me alive!” he cried. The
MudWing clamped his snout shut again.
“Oh, but I think I will,” Scarlet
said. “Especially since you have no way of killing yourself now that your tail
and claws are pinned, dear. Let’s go already,” she added to the MudWing
soldiers. The MudWings nodded and they flew away to the SkyWing palace,
carrying Sting with them.
“Help! Somebody help me! Please! Scorpion!
Scorpion...” But Scorpion was nowhere in earshot.
Sting had been captured by the SkyWing
Queen.
This will be a long flight, if
we’re going to the Sky Kingdom, Sting thought.
Part One: The Search For a War
Prisoner
Chapter 1
It was just after a battle
against Burn’s forces, the SkyWings and MudWings, in the middle of the Kingdom
of Sand in Blaze’s stronghold when I realized he wasn’t with me. Sting, my younger
brother, was just gone and I had no clue where he was until my general told me
that he had seen a troop of MudWings and Queen Scarlet carrying a SandWing away
and was calling my name. He claimed that he had seen that it was Sting.
 “What?” I hissed. “Are you telling me that
you saw my brother being carried away by MudWings and the SkyWing
queen? Impossible! That’s almost funny. Knowing Sting, he could never have been
captured. He’s the wariest dragon on Pyrrhia. I have tried time and time again
to sneak up on him and he always sees me. He would easily have seen, if not
heard, a troop of MudWings.”
“No, I saw him
looking for you and he saw me instead. He gave me a desperate look; I could see
it in his eyes.” The general was giving me a please believe me look and
I didn’t like it. “And he said, ‘Tell my brother that…’ and that was all I
heard before he was out of earshot, and if I were to lie to you, his
brother, then in Darkstalker’s name may the world bring my life to an end,” He
finished.
And he walked
away, his tail poised, leaving me to wonder what to do. Of course, I was still
in complete shock and denial. 
..........
Three days
later, I was still asking around, still looking for Sting with no luck. Some
thought I had gone crazy, “Running around like a scavenger without a head.” After
a few searches, I was about to give up for the day when I heard two dragons
having a conversation about what might have happened and what still could
happen to him. 
“…Sting...taken…Scarlet…fight...arena
for entertainment…champion…fire scales…monster…death...” That’s all I heard
from them before I got curious and decided to figure something out.
I interrupted
them right then and there, and they turned. I recognized Six Claws, who quite
literally has six claws on each talon. The other was Horizon, who was the first
to talk, but gave me a pained expression first, like he knew exactly what
happened. It turns out that he did, in fact, know exactly what happened.
“I was
fighting right next to him and he seemed to be doing well on his own every time
I looked at him. I cut the throat of the MudWing that I was fighting but by
then he was pinned down by three others. One had his tail and two sat on him at
once to keep him from doing anything. I tried to help him but before I could do
anything, two SkyWing soldiers tackled me and I had my claws full. Eventually I
had stabbed one and broken the other’s neck but by then… he was gone.”
Six Claws opened
his mouth and was about to talk, but I cut in and asked him about the “fire
scales monster” topic.
“Oh, you don’t
know? Queen Scarlet has a champion who has firescales. Most would call her a
monster, but the queen calls her Peril,” Six claws said.
Oh,
great, the “monster” has a name, I thought. Why do they always have
names? This is just getting worse and worse.''
I
decided it was time to ask a few questions, and where better to get answers
then the dungeons where the SkyWing prisoners were.
Chapter 2
I was walking
down the dungeon hallway, asking the SkyWing captives to see what they knew about
Sting, and I was getting quite frustrated with the lack of success I was having.
I was scaping my tail barb on the floor behind me by the time I found one who
had a clue as to what I was talking about. It seemed like he knew too much
about him for his own good. 
“He’s a great
fighter, and he in fact gave me this injury,” he said, pointing to his neck. “I’m
quite lucky the wound didn’t cut deep enough to get much venom in to my blood.
I passed out on-”
My anger took
over. My tail was between the cell bars and at the SkyWing’s throat within the
blink of an eye. “No time for stories and games, sky dragon. Now where. Is.
Sting?” 
The SkyWing
didn’t respond. In fact, he didn’t even blink when he saw my tail barb pressed
against his throat. Holy moons, he’s insufferable, I thought. I could feel
my talons curling without me even thinking about them. I paced to the other
side of the hallway and back a few times before I completely lost my temper.
“This idiot clearly isn’t used to being captive,” I mumbled under my breath.
“He doesn’t know when to talk or shut up.” This was going nowhere.
 By the time I calmed down a little, there was
a groove in the floor and my barb was sharper than it had ever been.
 “…Besides, I personally think Scarlet isn’t a
good queen. I don’t take it very entertaining to see dragon captives fighting
each other, and especially those who have to fight the champion.”
This caught my
ears and I suddenly realized my mind was wandering and I should have been
paying more attention.
“You said that
you don’t like Queen Scarlet?” I asked.
“Not at all,”
he responded. “In fact, if your brother means so much to you, I can help you
get him out of there, but for a price.”
The mention of
a price had me right back where I had started in an instant. “How good of a
price is it if I remove my tail from your throat and don’t kill you right now?”
I asked. “Oh, I’d say personally about fifty or so gold coins worth, given
there hasn’t been any treasure since Queen Oasis. It’s been fifteen years.”
“I-I-I’d say
that under the circumstances, that’s a good price for both of us,” the SkyWing stuttered.
“Then let’s
get going, shall we? Who knows if Scarlet’s already sent him in?”
That wasn’t
exactly the best of thoughts I could have had but, it kept me focused on why we
were leaving.
 ..........
  About two
hours later, we were up in the air, so I decided that because it was going to
be a long flight that I should start a conversation.
“What’s your
name, and does Scarlet know you’re not particularly in favor of her rule?”
“I thought you
would have known, Scorpion. My name is Vicious. Not many know me, but those who
do fear me like I fear your brother. And if Her Majesty knew what I thought of
her I would have been executed a long time ago. Also, I have a question. How
can I trust you not to kill me with your tail by accident?”
I almost
laughed at the question. “Vicious, if you die from my tail, it won’t be an
accident; that I can assure you,” I chuckled, swinging my tail close to him and
making him stall midair for a moment. “SandWing dragonets are taught from a
very young age how not to accidentally kill anyone. That aside, how do you know
my name?”
“Your brother knew
he hadn’t killed me when he gave me the injury on my neck. Before he left me,
he said, ‘Scorpion would have killed you. Just think of yourself as lucky.’ Those
were the last words I heard before I fell unconscious from the venom and woke
up in a dungeon. By the way, very reassuring about the whole ‘tail’ thing,” he
said sarcastically. “Now, can we stop and get something to eat? I haven’t had
anything since before the battle.”
Vicious made a
very good point. As far as I knew, no dragon had eaten since then and I was
famished. We landed a few minutes later and it turns out that Vicious was a
good hunter. He managed to catch us a pig each, which is impressive, even to the
best of the SandWing hunters. He said that on the way back, he had seen a
scavenger den that wasn’t on the maps of Pyrrhia and that maybe if we met up
sometime again, we could go there and “have a quick snack.”
We flew for
another three hours and seemed to be making good progress as well. Sadly, we
were going in the wrong direction. We landed again at the Bay of a Thousand Scales.
By then, it was a little dark and I couldn’t see very well.
“I thought I
saw Jade mountain, but I wasn’t sure. Now look where we are, by the
moons.” I cried.  “At least I know my way
around here. If we follow the coast for the rest of the day at this rate, we’ll
be in a good position to cut into the kingdom,” I told him while drawing a
rough sketch of Pyrrhia on the sand with a branch that had washed ashore.
“Looks and sounds
like a good plan. Let’s go tomorrow, though, because I can barely see you
anymore,” he responded.
“Agreed,” I said.
I was asleep in seconds.
The next
morning, there was a rabbit in front of my snout when I woke up. “Good morning,
Scorpion.”  I looked up and Vicious was
in front of me as well. “Have a bite to eat before we go. There’s a long flight
ahead of us.”
Part 2: Enter The Sky Kingdom
Chapter 3
The Sky palace
was in sight when we landed again. This time, I caught a couple of rabbits and
Vicious and I came up with a plan.
“Okay, Vicious,
if you go in and tell them that you were a SandWing prisoner, You’ll be telling
the truth,” I said.
He responded,
“But I’ll only be telling part of the truth, but that’s the whole plan, isn’t
it, Scorpion? If I don’t mention you, you can sneak-”
“No. If I actually
try to sneak in, I’ll be caught in an instant,” I answered. “My part is that,
see how there’s only one platform up there, next to Sting? If I’m lucky enough,
when I’m caught, I’ll be put up there right next to him and discuss our escape.
After that, we’ll see how things play out.”
“Clever,”
Vicious said. “But how do you plan on surviving the arena? I know you fight
well, but Scarlet has a way to capture literally any dragon.”
“Any dragon?” I pressed. 
“I can tell you
from experience,” Vicious told me. “I watched as one of the greatest IceWing warriors
was taken and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw who it was. Scarlet had
captured a royal IceWing guard, by the three moons.”
 “She did!?” That had to be a lie to steer
me away from rescuing my brother. The IceWing royal Guard is made of the
best-trained warriors in the kingdom.
“Yes,” Vicious boasted,
“Her Majesty, Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings has captured the most feared
IceWing soldier in the entire army.” 
Well, if she
can capture a royal guard and Sting, then this will be a dangerous
mission, I thought as we took off.
..........
The plan went well,
but I didn’t think it through. I’m imprisoned on one of the pillars. Now at
least I’m next to Sting. My wings and claws clamped, all I can do is walk in
circles, sleep and occasionally talk with Sting. Sometimes I watch the fights
in the arena.
The next day, I
wind up in the last place I ever wanted to be: in the SkyWing arena. Large
amounts of SkyWings and MudWings started to arrive.
“Welcome,
SkyWings and MudWings, to today’s battle!” Queen Scarlet announced. The group of
arriving dragons grew and grew, until the arena seats were full.
Sting whispered, “Good luck,” and then the
guards disconnected the cords from my collar and wing clamps. Dragging me
through the sky, the large crowd of SkyWings and MudWings started to stare at
me. I became nervous because although I was a seasoned warrior, I had never been
in a fight with a large crowd watching. And I had definitely never fought for
entertainment.
The soldiers
dropped me on my claws and unlatched the iron collar from my neck. The crowd
cheered, although I saw one of the MudWings give me a look of sheer hatred. Three
moons, what did I do to him? What’s his grudge against me? Then I saw the wound
on his shoulder, near his wing. It bloomed with a small area of black. This was
one of the dragons I had injured five days ago in the battle in the desert. I
gave him a sympathetic look, but he started talking to one of the SkyWings next
to him.
Soon, I saw a
dragon emerging from the cave across the arena. A SeaWing, by the looks of it. I
could also see the glowing scales on his body, tail and wings. He was an
aquamarine color and was also quite muscular, with wings of a sapphire color and
a pattern that looked like waves on the edges of them. 
Soon, a dark
red SkyWing that I later identified as Scarlet’s son, prince Vermilion, started
to talk. “In one corner, we have a legendary warrior from Blaze’s army. It’s Scorpion
of the SandWings!”
The crowd
started to cheer, although a few MudWings gave me withering looks.
Then the
announcer started to talk again. “In the other corner, we have an army general.
It’s Manta of the SeaWings! Claws up, tails ready! Fight!”
Manta was
almost immediately in my face, claws out, baring his fangs. I rolled to the
right and breathed fire in his face, following with my talons. Manta dodged,
leaping up and trying to land on me, but I lashed out with my tail, cutting off
his pounce and shredding his left wing as well. Manta roared in pain, slapping
me with his tail. I rolled out of the way before he could pounce on me and I
rammed him with my shoulder. I jumped on him and sliced my back talons against his
stomach. The crowd of dragons around me were getting exited. I felt Manta’s
blood on my claws. This is what the crowd wants, I thought. They want
blood and death. It’s my life or his.''
“I don’t want
to do this, Manta, but I need to survive and save my brother,” I said. I
finished the fight right there by slashing his throat. The SkyWings and MudWings
went wild. The blood pouring from Manta’s throat was a red lake, soaking
into the arena. I looked up at Scarlet, who was grinning, apparently satisfied
by my performance in battle.
The announcing SkyWing
said, “The winner: Scorpion of the SandWings!” 
Soon guards
started to emerge from the cave behind me. One reattached the collar to my
neck, and another helped to carry me back to my platform next to Sting. I
watched as the rest of the guards cleared out the body of Manta.
“That was a very
thrilling battle,” Scarlet sad. “Bravo! Thank you all for coming. Today’s games
are over!”
With that,
three guards emerged from where Manta had come earlier. One of them cleared out
Manta’s body and the other two re-clamped my neck and talons, carried me back
up to the pillar I had been before and reattached the cords keeping me from
falling to my death. I was settling down, trying to wrap my head around what
had just happened when Sting spoke up. “Well done, brother, but why are you
here?” he asked. “You didn’t turn yourself in, did you?
I sighed. “Technically,
yes, I did. Listen, Sting. When I first heard that you were gone, I couldn’t
believe it. I looked around for you for three days, by the moons. And still
I couldn’t find you. I went to the dungeons and one of the SkyWings said that
you showed mercy to him.”
“Oh, you mean
Vicious?” he asked. “He was an easy opponent. I figured he didn’t deserve to
die, given how pathetic he fought.”
“That’s an ugly
injury you left him with, although it has healed into an impressive scar as
well.” I commented.
Suddenly a dead
pigeon landed at my snout. I looked up and saw a coppery-red SkyWing with bright
wings and eyes of a blue color that would always haunt me. She was looking at
me with a sort of interest.
“Hello!” she
said. “Impressive fighting. I’ve seen many SandWings fight in the arena, but
nothing like you. Also, I brought you something to eat. I’m Peril, the-”
“The Queen’s
champion. You have firescales, right?” I interjected.
“R-r-right,”
Peril stuttered, “but how do you know? You’ve never been here before, have
you?”
“No. No I have
not, but a friend of mine knows a thing or two about this place,” I said,
talking between bites of the pigeon. I noticed it was warm and some of the
feathers were burned off or blackened. It also tasted a bit weird, like the
rabbits and pig I had eaten before I was captured. It was probably because I
grew up, like most SandWings, on lizards.
Oh. That’s
nice,” she said. Peril looked a little sad at the mention of a friend. “Cheer
for me in the arena!” she called, flying away and into the palace. She is weird,
I thought.
Chapter 4
About half an
hour after I had talked with Peril, two guards flew up to my platform. “Private
audience with the Queen. Stay quiet and this will only be a little
uncomfortable.” I decided to hold back the five questions I was about to ask. The
guards carried me sideways towards the palace and dropped me onto the cold stone
floor. They escorted me through the long hallway, past several prisoners.
Soon they threw
me into the throne room and one of the guards said, “Thank you for shutting up.
It makes my job so much easier.”
I bit my tongue
before I got into a worse situation then I was already. 
“Hello, Scorpion,”
Scarlet began, “Firstly: bow. Secondly, how was your first battle? Did
your brother enjoy watching?”
“He said he hated
watching every moment of it but was still very impressed with how I survived,”
I responded. “Please tell me, your Majesty, how many fights has Sting won?”
“He has won two
fights and was very-” Scarlet was cut off when the two guards pushed Sting into
the throne room. He gave me a look that said, By the three moons, what is
going on right now? Why are we here? I silently responded with, Not now.
Talk to her Majesty. I gestured towards Queen Scarlet with my tail
slightly. Sting got the message and bowed immediately.
“Finally, a respectful
pair of dragons on an opposite side of the war,” Scarlet remarked. “You
both know that I know that you are brothers. How would you like to live in the
same dungeon cell and fight together? Then I can have bigger, more exiting
fights in my arena. How thrilling.”
“I can live
with that,” Sting replied. I nodded in silent agreement.
“So be it. Take
them away!” she called. The guards once again escorted us, but this time out of
the throne room and into the dungeons below.
..........
Clang.
Click. Sting and I were now imprisoned in one large cell, below the arena
where dragons were forced to fight. The two SkyWing guards that had put us into
the cell opened the one across the hall from ours. one of them had gotten a
spear from the wall and was using it to keep a SandWing with strange fangs that
I recognized as Snake under control. Snake hissed like his namesake, baring his
long, strange but terrifying fangs, but the guard with the spear jabbed at him.
Snake backed down, letting himself be escorted out to the arena.
I heard Queen
Scarlet’s voice ring out over the arena, even from where we were imprisoned.
“Welcome, loyal
SkyWings and visiting MudWings. Welcome to today’s set of games! As you can
see, we have an honored SandWing guest. Queen Burn of the SandWings!” The crowd
respectfully cheered and applauded.
She said
“Queen.” Why did she say “Queen?” I thought that I had accidently said it
aloud, but it was Sting, who had said exactly what I thought, sounding about as
confused as I was just about then. “I think Scarlet called her ‘Queen’ Burn
because of the allegiance with the SkyWings. I believe the MudWings address her
as such as well,” Sting commented.
Soon the
announcing SkyWing started talking. “In one corner, a warrior with unusual fangs!
Snake of the SandWings!” The crowd hissed in applause at Snake, but they were
cut off by Vermillion, and at that point I stopped listening. “...Up...Ready...
Fight!” was all I could hear.
“Well, there
they go,” Sting sighed, “Nothing we can do about that. Hey, what are you doing,
Scorpion?” he added.
“Getting us out
of this place,” I growled while poking at the lock with my tail. “I came here
to rescue you because we need you on the battlefield, and...” My soul broke and
I forced a few sobs down. “...Because I love you. You mean more to me than
anything else in my life. I-”
“Look, I get
it, but can we save that for later?” Sting cut in. “Preferably when we’re up in
the air? The door is open.” I realized I wasn’t paying attention to what I was
doing and had somehow unlocked the door. Sting and I smiled at each other in
disbelief. “I can’t believe it worked,” I whispered. “Now let’s get a move on.
Chapter 5
“Let’s go,
quickly!” I ordered, gesturing out the door with my tail, “Before they raise
the alarm!” I quickly sliced at one of my wing clamps while thinking, Worth
a try. To Sting and I’s surprise, my tail barb cut straight through. Freeing
my other wing and both of Sting’s, we made a mad dash down the corridor and charged
straight into Vicious, who had a key in his claws. “Where were you, and what
took you so long?” I hissed.
“Coming...free
you...raised alarm...guards coming...fight through.” he stuttered, gasping for breath.
“Ten following me. Let’s move, quickly. They’ll kill you and have a public
execution for me, and I don’t fancy our chances.”
“Just like old
times, Sting? Shoulder to shoulder, take them head on?” We had used this
strategy several times before in battle and eventually be side by side facing
opposite directions, because we were surrounded. “Ten doesn’t sound like much,
and they don’t know we freed our wings.”
“Sure, but here
they come now,” Sting warned, “And the lead one has a spear. They don’t look
very happy. Vicious, stay out of the way.”
But-” he began
to protest. But we weren’t listening, because Sting and I were already fighting.
I looked over
at Sting for a quick check at how he was doing. He seemed to know how to defend
against every strike the SkyWing guards could throw against him and how to get through
their defenses like he’d been training for this fight his whole life. I stuck
to what I knew, slaying three guards before the guard with the spear turned on
me. I battled hard, but he cut my side, and the spear came away with a red
edge. I winced in pain and was too slow to recover. The guard brought his spear
up to finish me when out of nowhere, a talon appeared around the back of his neck
and his chest exploded in blood.
“You have to be
faster than that if you want to beat these dragons,” Sting lectured, drawing
his tail out from the mutilated guard. “They won’t hesitate to kill you, so you
have to do the same, Scorpion. Let’s move.” His tail barb had the ruined heart stuck
on it and half his tail was red and dripping blood. He flicked the guard’s torn
heart from his tail without blinking like he’d seen and done that sort of thing
before.
I
glanced at Vicious, who had a bit of blood on his chest from the guard with the
open chest. He was staring at Sting, his eyes wide as the moons in fear.
“Wh-wh-what in Pyrrhia just happened?” He could barely get the question out.
Did you just- but ten guards- that’s-” Vicious was hardly understandable, and
he couldn’t take his eyes of the guard that Sting had stabbed.
“Look, I’m as startled as you
about what just happened and I had it happen in my face. 
You don’t belong in the SkyWing army; you’re too weak-hearted. Let’s go, you
brainless salamander. We don’t have time for this. Also, you’re the one who
knows this place best. So, get moving,” I ordered. “You’re leading.”
“Leading
you where, exactly? Did you really think you could escape?” I looked behind
me and saw Queen Scarlet blocking the path. Burn and a battalion of SkyWing
guards, all with spears, were blocking the pathway. One of them noticed Sting’s
still-dripping tail that was shining with blood and the ten soldiers we had
just killed. When the guard’s eyes passed over the soldier who had the spear,
surrounded in a still-growing pool of blood, he looked at Sting, the soldier,
and Sting again. Sting glared at him in a way that could freeze lava and melt
gold. “Holy moons!” the guard gently cried. He also promptly passed out on the
dungeon floor.
“I...
guess I’ll be going now bye!” Vicious tried to run, but Scarlet flicked
her tail towards him and three guards went after him. One was holding wing
clamps and a collar. They tackled him, attached the clamps and collar and
carried Vicious out of the dungeons.
“I
guess that’s the last we’re going to see of him before he’s executed,” I
murmured. “Not that we’re being put up on those pillars again after what
happened earlier today.”
Why,
you’ve got the right idea now, don’t you?” Scarlet said. “He will be executed
in a week’s time. On the other talon, throw these two into the reinforced cell.
The one that’s only unlockable from the outside.”                                                     
..........
Sting
and I didn’t think much of the reinforced cell until we saw the measures the
SkyWings had gone through to make sure no dragon ever escaped. The cell had a
thick layer of metal on the inside and out, and in between was solid stone. The
lock was also (as Scarlet ordered) on the outside only.
Throwing
two rabbits in behind us, one of the guards said, “Good luck getting out of this
one, you two. Not that you can, anyhow. 
Eat up, her Majesty wants to see you fight together tomorrow, and you
have to be ‘absolutely thrilling’ in the arena.” The two guards walked away,
snickering at the bad impression of Scarlet that one of them did.
“Come
on, Scorpion, eat up. You don’t want to starve, do you?” Sting asked tiredly
from the corner. “On one talon, they’re throwing us into the arena. Probably
against overwhelming forces in hopes of killing us. On the other talon, while
you were being ‘escorted’ to the original cell, Queen Scarlet told me that if
we won our next fight, we could go free.”
“Really?
Just like that? Set us free on our next win?” I questioned.
“You
didn’t here the ‘overwhelming forces’ part, did you?” Sting said. “Scarlet
doesn’t want us to survive. Even if we do, we’ll have put up a good fight and make
a name for ourselves in the enemy armies. Now go to sleep. You won’t win if
you’re tired. Good night, Scorpion.” he added.
“Good
night, Sting. We can’t give up tomorrow, or her Majesty will have our dead
heads.” I shuddered at the thought of that, and shuddered again when I realized
I had actually said that aloud. I fell asleep dreaming of what Scarlet could
possibly send against us. Lots of SeaWings? Lots of IceWings? Lots of both? Three
moons, please let us survive tomorrow.''
I
fell asleep having nightmares of blood, death and slaughter. I hoped that they weren’t
showing me the fate that would be inevitably true. I really, really hoped that
it wasn’t our fate.
It
was, but we weren’t the ones who died.
Part 3: Battles are Inevitable
Chapter 6
Clang!
I was just waking up when a guard banged on Sting and I’s cell door. “Ah! Huh?
What’s going on, who’s there?” Sting woke up in an instant and nearly tackled
me. He was probably a bit antsy from being shocked awake by a loud sound
because he’s such a deep sleeper. “Rise and shine, you two.” the guard called. Your
fight is in eight hours, so have something to eat. Cheers from the Queen,” he
added, throwing in three lizards each. Finally, some real food. I
thought. I hadn’t eaten lizards in almost a week and they were wonderful. It
was a good morning until I remembered where we were and what we were about to get
into.
I
decided to pass the time by sharpening my tail barb on the floor and pacing
around, until Sting told me to use some common sense and that my barb was sharp
enough as it was. “Listen, Scorpion, it took me a while to go to sleep because
you were scraping your tail on the floor all night. It nearly drove me mad.” He
said. I sighed, “All right, I’ll save the whole ‘cutting our wings free again’
thing for a break in the fight. Since there’s going to be a lot of opponents
out there, some of them might hesitate when they see us fight.”
“Good
plan. We can scare them off. Although, we might be forced to kill them all
anyway. Scarlet wants a good fight, seeing as it’s her hatching day.” As far
as I know, there’s a big set of games today before we go in, I thought. These
days all I cared about was Sting and I’s survival and freedom. I couldn’t
imagine a world without Sting and I wouldn’t let myself think about what
it would be like for him if I weren’t there with him.
We
can’t die today. We can’t! “I agree, Scorpion. We cannot die. I won’t allow
it.” “Three moons, did I say my thoughts aloud again? I need to get that under
control.” I told him and myself.” “Yeah, you really do. It’s starting to get
annoying,” Sting complained. “Sometimes you talk in you sleep, and I’m always
confused. ‘What in Darkstalker’s name are you yammering about?’ I ask you, but
you’re always asleep, so you don’t hear me. It drives me crazier than a
headless scavenger.”
“Yeah,
well, we don’t have any more time to chat. I can hear a large number of dragons
walking down the hall and even more arriving outside. The games are about to
begin.” I said, sharpening my tail barb one more time for good measure. Our
wing clamps weren’t going to stand a chance.
There
was about an hour of watching dragons walk out, hear them be announced, and come
back in. At one point, I saw two guards dragging a dead SandWing down the hall.
I had seen about twenty dead dragons that morning, but this one was different. He
had talon-shaped burns on his wings. His tail was dried and blackened and his
face... I couldn’t make myself look at his face for longer than a split second.
One that I noticed was the royal IceWing guard that Vicious had told me about. He
gave me a look that was almost depressing to see, and after about a minute or
two, he didn’t return, but a SeaWing did, and he had blood on all of his claws.
“And
now, the most exiting fight of the day, my hatching day present! Sting and
Scorpion the SandWings!” Scarlet announced. Two guards had opened the door and
were escorting us out to the arena while Scarlet was talking. When we were
released of our metal collars, The announcer was incredibly eager to speak. “Today
we have a very special fight for the main event. If these two SandWings survive
this fight, they will be set free of the Sky Kingdom to return home. The only
way to win, however, is to survive three waves of attack. Round one: five SkyWing
guards! Claws up, fire ready! Fight!”
As
the announcing SkyWing said, five SkyWing guards, all with armor and the leader
with a spear, emerged from the other cave in the arena. I looked at one of them
and he shuddered when he saw Sting. This was the guard that had passed out on
duty when he saw the mutilated guard yesterday. The other guards came charging
at us, the one with the spear attacking me first. Why do the ones with
weapons always attack me first, I silently complained. I was all
defense until the fifth guard tried to sneak up behind me, essentially
committing suicide. I hit him with my tail three times while keeping the
spearman at bay. One, two, three, I counted as I hit the guard behind me
across the face, cut open his shoulder and stabbed him in the heart, piercing
through his armor. Putting my complete focus back on the guard with the spear,
I grabbed the weapon, broke it over the guard’s head and stabbed him in the
spine. I turned to Sting, Who just broke the last guard’s neck. His fangs were
dripping blood. “Round one,” he said, panting. The large audience of SkyWings,
SandWings and MudWings looked at us in awe and respect. Some even looked at us
with fear in their eyes.
The
announcer spoke again. “Congratulations for winning the first fight. Round two:
The SeaWing Royal Guard!” Ten SeaWings emerged from the caves on either side of
the arena, five on each side. One of them flashed his scales, communicating in
Aquatic. He turned to me, and because I knew a few Aquatic insults from the
battlefield, I knew what he said to me: You’re dead, alligator face.
“Bring it,” I challenged. He gave me an It’s your funeral look and ran
at me, four others accompanying and overtaking him. Round two was on.
Chapter 7
The
other five SeaWings rushed at Sting, who tripped the leading two and raked his
claws into their throats, killing them immediately. Some of the crowd looked
away as he did so. I grabbed the first one, spun and threw him into the second,
knocking them both over. I then dodged past the third SeaWing and bit down on
the sensitive part of his tail as hard as I could. He screamed at the top of
his lungs in pain, and turned to me growling. He raked at me with his wings, scoring
a hit on my left side right next to where I had been cut by a spear yesterday. I
clawed at his face and felt his eye tear. I ended his pain by snapping his neck
just as my fourth assailant tackled me from the side. I did the first thing I
could think of: slicing my wing claw on his stomach and breathed fire in his
face. He tried to bite my snout, but I cut open his throat, and I heard a snap.
Guessing it was Sting, breaking a SeaWing’s neck, I looked over to him. He
looked at me in the instant of rest he had before turning to face his fifth
attacker. 
The
SeaWing that I had thrown at the beginning of the fight was unconscious. The
one I had thrown him into was just getting up and the fifth one was looking at
Sting, terrified. I saw that once again, Sting grabbed the SeaWing assailant
and slashed his throat with his tail. He motioned me to him with his shoulders and
I got the message. The SeaWing backed away and tried to run, but I caught him
and he begged for mercy, almost crying for his life to protect Queen Coral and
Gill. 
“Why
do you think I’m going to kill you?” I whispered. I cut through his wing clamps
and collar with my tail barb and told him in as menacing a voice as I could
manage: “RUN.” Sure enough, he headed Southeast to the Bay of a Thousand
Scales. No one, not the guards, the crowd, or even Queen Scarlet herself, tried
to stop him. “Alligator face!” I called after him, returning his taunt.  Sting did the same with the SeaWing who was
unconscious from the start of the fight, without the “Alligator face” taunt.
The
announcer was trembling when I looked him in the eyes. “Round Three-” he
started.
“No.”
Scarlet cut in. “I’ve seen enough from them. Leave them be. I will have a private
conversation with them before setting them free. Thank you all!” she added,
addressing the crowd, “Today’s games are over. We don’t want to run out of
contenders, do we?” She gestured to Sting and I with her tail, signaling for us
to follow her. “Let’s go, Sting.” I said. “We can’t leave Her Majesty waiting,
can we? We don’t want to upset her on her hatching day.” “Fair point,
Scorpion,” he responded. “Very fair point.”
..........
“Sting.
Scorpion.” Scarlet addressed us. “You have made my hatching day very enjoyable,
although I do question your mercy, Scorpion.” I took that a little too
personally. It is the way I am, I thought. “By the moons, besides
that, what an incredible fight. I’ve not seen such good warriors in a long
time.” Sting and I simultaneously bowed. “Thank you, your Majesty,” Sting said.
The guards on either side of the Throne were looking at us and I could see fear
in their eyes and body. Their spines were tense and they were slowly raising
their spears, just a little bit. Scarlet began to speak again. “You are
dismissed to go safely to the Kingdom of Sand, but pray that you never cross my
path again.” Scarlet added.
The two guards who escorted
us into the throne room were about to release our clamps, but I said to them,
“Allow me. Stand clear so you don’t get hurt by mistake.” The guards reluctantly
stood back and I cut through the
release groves in my metal collar and wing clamps. Sting did the same and we
both spread our wings fully for the first time in almost a week. For Sting, the
first time in eight days. We did one last quick bow, and with that Sting and I walked
out of the throne room, to the wide platform and we took off.
We
circled high above the arena, and watched as Vicious was executed, in public,
with a large number of dragons filling the seats. The executioner made a quick
job of it, running his spear straight into Vicious’ heart, twisted it one way,
then the other, and removed the spear. Vicious was dead. So much for sparing
his life in the dungeons, I thought.
“Well,
that was anticlimactic, Scorpion. I thought they would have beheaded him or burned
him to death.” Sting commented. “I agree,” I said. “Although I think they would
have had Peril kill him. Queen Scarlet has a strange idea about ‘entertainment,’
doesn’t she? Also, who was against you in your first fight?” I added. “Scarlet
said that you had two wins and I want to know about all of that. I was worried
sick about you.”
“Some
IceWing I hadn’t seen or heard of before,” he replied. “I was hesitant to fight
him, but he attacked first before I could get my mind around the fact that we
were on the same side of the war. From that point it was-”
“Self-defense,
up until you were forced to finish the fight.” I finished. “I can’t contemplate
what that must have been like. To kill an ally...” The thought was a dark scar
in my mind. I spent the rest of the flight in silence, and Sting did the same. We
didn’t talk or rest until we made the three-hour flight to the palace where the
rest of the SandWings who weren’t Outclaws were.
Chapter 8
When
Sting and I got back, the stronghold was almost completely empty. I asked one
of the SandWings who weren’t gone what had happened. It just so happened to be
Six Claws. “There’s a battle going on near the mountain range where the Diamond
Spray River is. Everybody else was a little reluctant to go because you two
weren’t here. They’re fighting for their lives. They-”
“Say
no more. Let’s go, Scorpion,” Sting called, “let’s go show them how we got a
reputation.” “Agreed,” I said back.
“Reputation?
How did you get a reputation in the Sky Kingdom? In the arena?” Six Claws
asked. “Wait, don’t tell me. Besides,” he started again, “I’ve had enough of
this war. I’m...” he sighed.
“You’re
what?” I questioned. “What are you going to do?”
“Listen,
both of you.” I could tell Six Claws was having a hard time explaining. “I’ve
had enough of this war. I want no part in it anymore. I... I’m joining the
Outclaws. I am sick of this fighting, and joining the Talons of Peace is not
happening.”
“You
what?!” I was dumbstruck. There was no way I just heard that Six Claws
was leaving the leadership of Queen Blaze. I couldn’t believe it. I was about
to pounce on him when Sting spoke. “Scorpion, he’s already gone. Let him.”
Sting put a talon on my shoulder to comfort me. “Horizon’s going to go insane
when he hears this,” he said, laughing. “In the meantime, let’s go. There’s a
battle going on and we might be needed.” No argument there. I was flying full
speed in minutes, Sting right beside me.
..........
Soon,
we started to see dead dragons, some with spears in them, some with their faces
frozen, and some that were absolutely annihilated. Wings, talons, legs, even
heads were ripped off of dragons. Sting was unfazed by the sight before us. I
looked up and kept flying towards the sounds of battle, but we were a little
bit too late. Some SandWings were retreating, but a small group of them peeled
off and turned around, following us. “Where were you two? We needed you
two hours ago!” One of them called.
“Sky
Kingdom,” I said. “Saving my brother. Made a little bit of a reputation with
some of the SkyWings an MudWings after the fight that set us free.” I wished I
didn’t think about that. All of a sudden, one of the SandWings screamed and
went down in flames. Literally. I rolled to one side and Sting to the
other as another blast of fire shot up from one of the SkyWing soldiers. I
wasted no time. I dove in, and the soldier did one of the stupidest things
anyone could do in this situation: he looked up at me. Leaving his throat wide
open as I glided back up, we flew for another five minutes and eventually came
across the major battle.
“Spread
out and find somewhere to help!” Sting ordered. The SandWings turned in
different directions. One of them landed and went straight into claw-to-claw
combat. “Scorpion, come with me. We’re going to teach these dragons a lesson.”
I nodded, and we flew for about another minute before seeing Horizon, who was
in a little trouble. He was fighting two MudWings at once and his snout was bleeding
from a series of claw marks. Sting and I dove in, both of us wasting no time
digging our claws into their throats after knocking them off of Horizon. He was
sent rolling, but got up quickly.
“Thanks
for that, guys.” Horizon said. “We should stay together, fight as a group.” He
went on. “Harder for them to kill us, easier for us to kill them.”
“That’s
always the plan for us, Horizon.” I said. “Let’s go!”
Chapter 9
It
was probably the biggest battle of the entire war. Sting and I were almost
overwhelmed and our forces were pretty crippled, but so were theirs. There
wasn’t just SandWings and SkyWings. All of the tribes involved in the
war were there. Even Blister herself showed up, leading the SeaWing forces.
“Things are about to get rough!” I cried. We launched straight into the middle
of it and went to work on the enemy forces.
Horizon
was fighting hard, but eventually a duo of SeaWings started pushing him back and
we didn’t see him again until the battle ended. Sting and I wade sure we stayed
together for the entire duration of the battle. There were a few things,
however, that even Sting, who had literally pulled out the hearts of his
enemies on his tail before now, looked away from some dragons, who had been
eviscerated brutally. Unfortunately, such are the ways of this war. Fight to
survive, serve your queen. It seems quite simple until you have to actually fight
in battles to serve and protect.
It
would be difficult to describe the battle in great detail, because it was a
blur of blood, teeth, talons and claws. All I can say now is that Blister and
the SeaWings pulled back first, leaving Burn’s forces a wide open battlefield
to fight against us. We were victorious, but at a grave cost. We lost several
hundreds of our warriors, and I nearly lost Sting to an accidental injury by my
tail, and I will never forgive myself for doing so. With the help of a few
IceWings nearby, we rushed Sting back to the fortress where Sting and I had
returned to, only to hear of Six Claws’ retirement from war. Giving my brother
personal medical attention and assistance, I was able to save him, but barely.
He remained unconscious for a week in stable condition, but would recover. Of
course, he was famished when he woke up and almost swallowed the first lizard
whole before we killed it.
There
was a great post-battle feast to celebrate our victory two weeks after the
battle. Somehow, there were enough scavengers that were caught to go around. Most
were dead, but a few were still alive. One made a bold dash off of the table
and almost escaped before Sting, with a sudden burst of energy for a just
recovered wounded warrior, dashed after it and out the hall before returning
about thirty seconds later with the scavenger’s head bitten off and the body in
one of his claws and a hugely proud expression on his face.
“Gave
me a bit of a chase there, it did.” Sting said. “It almost got out the door and
into the open desert before I caught it. Besides,” he continued, “I feel great
now. Never felt better!” The SandWings and IceWings cheered and applauded for
him, but some looked at me while doing so, knowing why he was injured.
“To
Queen Blaze!” I called, raising my goblet of water in one claw. The entire hall
of about fifty or so dragons returned the call. “To Queen Blaze!!” they cried,
also raising their goblets, drank them and from there, it was a wonderful time.
The SandWings ate lizards and scavengers, the IceWings camels and scavengers,
drank, danced and eventually went to bed. Some dragons barely made it back to
their caves before passing out from exhaustion.
Most
of the IceWings left before they got too tired, probably because they were
holding a celebration of their own. The victory was incredible.
THE END
(Anticlimactic, am I right? I'm kinda bad a writing.
Afterword
Thanks to my English teacher for having me do up to halfway of Chapter Two as an Assignment. If I'm being completely honest, I handed it in, and then KEPT WRITING because I was bored and hooked into my own story at the same time. I went over it, tweaked it, and a few months (2.5) later, here it is!
Sorry to let u down, but I won't actually make a comic.
Category:Literature
Category:Wings of Fire
Category:Fanfictions