(This is the page for the book titled "Darkstalker." You may be looking
for the Darkstalker|dragon instead.)  'Darkstalker' is the first
installment of Wings of Fire: Legends, featuring Clearsight,
Darkstalker, and Fathom as the main protagonists.

It tells the true story of Darkstalker's past, describing who he really
was and what Pyrrhia was like at the time. Darkstalker was published on
June 28th, 2016, and the cover art was revealed on the Wings of Fire
forums on February 16th, 2016 by Tui T. Sutherland. There is a preview to this book at the end of Deserter and Talons of Power (book)|Talons of
Power.

There is also a Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition, which includes a Wings
of Fire board game called Wings Over Pyrrhia.

## Summary

Three dragons. One unavoidable destiny. This is the beginning … of the
end.

In the Kingdom of the Sea|SeaWing kingdom, a young prince learns he is
an animus — capable of wonderful magic that comes with a terrible price.

In the mind of a NightWing dragonet, a thousand futures unfold — and
almost all of them, she knows, lead to disaster and destruction.

And under three full moons and the watchful eyes of his NightWing mother
and IceWing father, the most powerful dragon Pyrrhia will ever know is
clawing his way out of his egg. Darkstalker, the dragon who will change
the world forever.

Long before the War of SandWing Succession|SandWing war, lifetimes before The Dragonet Prophecy (prophecy)|the Dragonet Prophecy… darkness
is born.

## Quote on back of hardcover

He did not understand yet that he could see the future. He had no idea
what the flashes meant. He couldn't follow the paths that were unfolding
in his brain; cause and effect and consequences were all still beyond
him. But in his mother's mind, he found the idea of hope, and in his
father's mind, he traced the outline of something called patience.

He could wait.

"Darkstalker," said Mother. "Hello, darling." She held out her talons
and he climbed into them willingly, curious to be closer to that warmth.

This is my mother. Those are my full moons.

This is my world now.

## Dedication

For Amanda Maciel|Amanda, who is always wonderful, patient, funny, and
brilliant — thank you, thank you, thank you for EVERYTHING.

## Plot

### Prologue

The story began with Arctic brainstorming ideas for his animus
enchantment in his room. He was talking with a first-circle IceWing that
he forgot the name and identity of. Near the end of their conversation,
he realized it was Snowflake, the dragon his mother arranged for him to
marry. They then went outside on the balcony and met an incredibly
talkative NightWing who was watching the sunset while trying to keep
herself warm. She continuously complained about the cold and talked
about how pretty everything was until Snowflake got annoyed and left.
Arctic was left alone with her, and she unintentionally introduced
herself as Foeslayer. The two talked for a while, and after lots of
complaining about the cold, Arctic enchanted one of his diamond earrings
to keep her warm and gave it to her as a gift, breaking the IceWing
animus rule of only being able to use his magic once for a glorious gift
to the whole tribe. Arctic later escaped the Ice Kingdom with Foeslayer.

### Part One

Outside of the SeaWing palace, young dragonets lined up on the beach for
the Talons of Power ceremony|animus test. Prince Fathom was among them,
along with his friend Indigo. Albatross, his grandfather, who was an animus dragon was testing them on Lagoon's orders, even
though he doubted any of them would be an animus. The coconut test
begins, in which Fathom's coconut managed to hit and break multiple of
Albatross's ribs in the process. Albatross then begrudgingly
congratulated Fathom on his newfound powers.

The story continued with Darkstalker's first memory. Darkstalker was
still within his egg, and he heard Arctic and Foeslayer arguing in the
excitement of the hatching of thrice-moonborn dragonets. A NightWing
named Foreseer was mentioned to have predicted that Darkstalker was to
hatch on the brightest night. The bickering continued as Foeslayer moved
Darkstalker's egg, along with another egg, outside where they were set
in a stable place somewhere high up. The argument escalated, and
Darkstalker cracked his egg in an instinctive effort to protect his
mother after he saw a vision of frozen claws and bloody scales.
Darkstalker now determined that Arctic was Foeslayer's partner and his
father. Darkstalker immediately hated him but found that Arctic truly
loved Foeslayer. Darkstalker began to explore the gift of precognition
and saw futures where he could rise to be powerful alongside his sister,
contained in the other egg in the nest. He realized that he could summon
his sister out of her egg with his animus magic and grant her the
abilities of the three moons as well, but he chose not to act because he
wanted all of Foeslayer's love. His mother named him Darkstalker,
despite his father's protests and arguments that it was a sinister name;
Arctic finally agreed as long as he got to name the second dragonet
Whiteout who, in the future, he loved more than Darkstalker.

A few days after the animus test, Fathom was summoned by Albatross for
the first time. The messenger came as Fathom, Indigo, and Pearl were having a lesson in geography. They met alone at the
sunset beach of the Island Palace, and then Albatross showed Fathom the
Summer Palace. Fathom suggested the idea of enchanted plants for a
canopy and went to try it out when a bush flew up and Indigo was
revealed to be spying. Albatross threatened to tell Lagoon and punish
her, but Indigo said that she was only worried about Fathom, which made
Albatross leave tiredly. Fathom performed his first official spell
(behind Albatross's back) -- enchanting a piece of bleached wood to
carve itself into an octopus and come to life. He then gave it as a pet
to Indigo, who named it Blob.

Clearsight was in her private study room at the NightWing
library|library writing down her visions of the future when her father
came in. Her father mentioned that she was too young to worry so much,
but she replied that she should worry more. She thought about the
upcoming Royal SeaWing Massacre, and how she did not know much about it.
After a short conversation, Clearsight agreed to go to NightWing
school|school when she was three. She then proceeded to work on the
timeline scroll for the events that would take place at and after going
to school. Clearsight also resigned her fate to be with Darkstalker,
accepting this as the most probable route.

Darkstalker was flying to his home in the canyons after hunting, hearing
the thoughts of his fighting parents. He came in and noticed Arctic and
Foeslayer were fighting in front of Darkstalker's sister, Whiteout. The
argument escalated and reached the point where Arctic revealed a message
from Diamond, asking for Arctic to come home, and that amnesty can be
reached if he killed his dragonets.

Indigo and Fathom were getting ready for a party at the Island Palace with SkyWing guests, Sunset, and Eagle. Lagoon told the
SkyWings about her animus dragons, enraging the SkyWings. Albatross
arrived and Lagoon started talking to him about her future plans for his
enchantments. Albatross told her he disagreed with her ideas and she
threatened to get rid of him because she could use Fathom instead. This
caused Albatross to slice Lagoon's throat with a knife, killing her and
beginning the massacre.

Clearsight was getting ready for her first day of school. She also tried
to avoid Darkstalker as much as possible. As she was flying, she had a
vision of the massacre going on, thinking about Fathom's sad futures, if
he even survived. She soon found the NightWing school#Tower of
Knowledge|seer classroom and proved to the class she was a talented
seer. She realized this class would not help her at all and worried
about her future with Allknowing, knowing she was extremely resentful
and envious of Clearsight's powers.

Fathom at first thought Albatross did it on accident and then thought
about either fighting or fleeing. Sunset and Eagle then attempted to
flee. Albatross quickly attacked them with his enchanted knife, killing
Sunset and injuring Eagle. He then killed Fathom's parents as well as
his cousin. Later on, as Fathom hid, his grandfather found him.
Albatross went to kill Fathom but Indigo jumped in, buying just enough
time for Fathom to cast a spell to kill Albatross. Albatross managed to
slit Indigo's throat, nearly killing her, but Fathom used his magic to
heal her, leaving him wondering if he would ever become like Albatross.

Clearsight was shown being released out of Allknowing's class, and she
found her way to NightWing school#Room 3A|Room 3A where she met
Listener, her new best friend. Whiteout approached Clearsight and asked
her if she was the dragon Darkstalker had been waiting for. Clearsight
replied yes, seeing that honesty was the best way to approach Whiteout
and noting that Whiteout either trusted completely or not at all. Once
Clearsight was released out of class, she knew that she would meet
Darkstalker soon. Wanting to do it on her own terms, she waited in the
shadow of a tree. Whiteout appeared, accidentally walking through a
marble game. The frustrated players yelled insults at her, and
Darkstalker appeared to defend his sister. Darkstalker scolded them and
ended the discussion, which led to him meeting Clearsight. At this
point, Clearsight realized this was the beginning of everything.
Darkstalker reminded her to stay in the present, but Clearsight was
sucked into a whirl of visions. When she was back in reality,
Darkstalker promised he would never read her mind.

Later on, they flew to a cave, seen in Clearsight's futures, and
Clearsight asked Darkstalker about being half IceWing. He showed her a
ridge of IceWing scales on the underside of his wing, which were cold.
She asked him what his first animus spell was, and he replied that he
enchanted a scavenger doll of Whiteout's to appear on her pillow at the
end of the day, no matter where she put it. Then they heard Current, a
SeaWing who survived the massacre, in the back of the cave. Current told
them about Albatross, and Clearsight reminded Darkstalker about his
soul. Darkstalker reassured her that his soul was fine, and they went to
get Current help. Darkstalker then got the idea of enchanting a scroll
to hold his powers.

Fathom was shown in the aftermath of the massacre. He, Indigo, and Pearl
seemed to be the only SeaWing survivors. Pearl was the only royal heir
alive besides their mad aunt, Sapphire. Eagle of the SkyWings was also
alive. Pearl, now queen, promised that the SeaWings would never encroach
into SkyWing territory again along with tributes of seafood and gems for
the next five years if the SkyWings kept the massacre a secret. Pearl's
first edict as queen of the SeaWings was to outlaw animus magic. Fathom
told Pearl that Indigo killed Albatross, and Fathom swore an oath that
he would never use his magic again. Pearl also reminded him that he
could never have dragonets and that he would have to stay away from
Indigo. Painfully, Fathom agreed. Pearl comforted him by saying that
Indigo would be put in the Royal Guard. Fathom sadly thought to himself
that he deserved this pain.

Darkstalker and Clearsight go to his house. On the way there,
Darkstalker admitted to enchanting his nosy neighbors' plants to always
grow turnips. Clearsight became worried, but Darkstalker took no notice
and led her into his room, passing Whiteout's paintings on the way.
Darkstalker, very excited, took out a scroll from the rack in his room,
one of the other scrolls being a painting of Clearsight before he met
her, and showed it to Clearsight. He asked her to guess what it was,
then told her that the scroll was enchanted and held all his magic. He
proved it to her, and Clearsight asked permission to look at the
futures. Darkstalker nodded and Clearsight saw that some of the dark
futures fade away. Delighted, they enchanted a moonstone bracelet for
Clearsight to keep her mind safe from mind-readers, a blanket to keep
the wearer at the perfect temperature, and their history scroll to read
to them.

While listening to the scroll, Arctic came into the room and found out
that Darkstalker was an animus. Darkstalker and Arctic had a cold,
threatening conversation about the effects of animus magic. Clearsight
then got a wave of visions and a prophecy for Arctic. Confused, Arctic
wrote down the prophecy and mused over it, and Clearsight left, taking
the scroll with her for safety.

A year after the massacre, Fathom was summoned to the throne room. The
guards there were hostile but obedient to Pearl. Indigo, now one of
Queen Pearl's bodyguards, was in the room, along with Current, who could
not handle the sight of Fathom and begged to be taken away. Queen Pearl
told Fathom that there was a NightWing animus, Darkstalker, and wanted
Fathom to go to Darkstalker to teach him how animus power can be
harmful. Indigo burst into the conversation, warning Pearl that it might
not be safe for Fathom. She then asked permission to accompany Fathom to
the Lost city of night|Night Kingdom. Pearl allowed Indigo, Lionfish,
and Wharf to go with Fathom to the Night Kingdom, but Fathom felt
slightly guilty as they took off.

### Part Two

Darkstalker was invited to the NightWing palace|palace two months after
his father found out he was an animus. It soon became common knowledge
around the tribe that Darkstalker was the tribe's first animus.

Darkstalker, Arctic, and Foeslayer went to the welcoming party for the
SeaWings, Whiteout being left behind. Queen Vigilance took Darkstalker
to meet Fathom, also seeing Indigo with the other guards. Feeling
Fathom's increasing anxiety, he took them for a short flight with his
guests thinking nervous thoughts. Darkstalker said that he was actually
delightful and that if Fathom was so worried, he should make something
like a soul reader.

Darkstalker said that Fathom does not have to be this miserable and that
he should enchant an earring that makes him stop thinking about it so
much. Darkstalker replied that he could make Fathom happy, which made
Indigo press a knife against Darkstalker's neck. Fathom calmed Indigo,
and Darkstalker decided not to kill her, for the time being. Indigo
hesitantly stepped back, and Darkstalker continued showing them the
Night Palace.

Clearsight and Listener were on their quest to save the scavengers. The
dragonets discussed how to free the scavengers, and they eventually
stuffed the scavengers into burlap sacks. Eventually, they brought the
scavengers to North Beach and set them free. An IceWing appeared out of
the sea and ate one of them, and soon one of its companions joined it.
Seeing the future, Clearsight found out that they were planning an
invasion.

Fathom and Indigo were back at the palace. Indigo began to search the
room for threats, and Fathom quietly said that he was the only threat
here, because of his magic. Indigo replied that he was not a threat to
her, and a conversation starts from there.

After the party, Darkstalker proceeded to go home at about sunrise and
decided to enchant something to make him invulnerable. To test his spell
he stabbed himself with a dagger, and the spell worked, rebounding the
dagger easily. The idea of a soul reader then came to his mind.

Clearsight was in the palace, about to tell the queen about her vision
at North Beach, with Darkstalker by her side. Inside the throne room,
she told the queen of her vision of an IceWing invasion, starting at
North Beach during the next two new moons. Queen Vigilance was surprised
that it was not a prophecy. Because of the clarity of her vision, she
made Clearsight the new top seer.

Darkstalker proceeded to show all of them the soul reader he made.
Darkstalker then proclaimed that it was only a little enchantment and
did not cost that much of his soul. Clearsight assured herself that
Darkstalker was not completely evil, and Darkstalker said the same,
except with more confidence, and told Fathom there was nothing to worry
about. Indigo blocked it when Darkstalker tried to read Fathom's soul,
but Fathom reassured her that he wanted to see it for himself, and
Indigo reluctantly moved away.

Weeks passed by, strengthening Fathom's friendship with Darkstalker and
Clearsight. One evening, he found the soul reader on his desk with a
note from Darkstalker that said Fathom's mind should stop worrying so
much and he could use the soul reader whenever he wanted. Indigo said
that it was very suspicious, saying that it was probably enchanted to
show that Darkstalker was always good or whenever Fathom touched it, it
made him trust Darkstalker even more. Darkstalker suddenly appeared,
standing over the balcony, saying that Indigo was paranoid and clever
and that they were lucky that Indigo was not an animus with ideas like
that. He then mentioned that he used it once on Arctic already, saying
that Arctic was almost as bad as Darkstalker thought. Fathom tipped the
soul reader to Darkstalker, and it showed the same results as the
previous time. Darkstalker grinned, saying that he was totally not evil
and should bother Clearsight.

When they arrived at Clearsight's door, she refused to come out and
stated that she needed to finish a report on the next year of IceWing
maneuvers. But Darkstalker pointed out that the next day was
Clearsight's Hatching Day. They flew out and went into a forest, where
they built a fire and ate fruits that Darkstalker brought. Darkstalker
then gave Clearsight and Fathom each a Dreamvisitor, keeping one for
himself. He explained that it would allow the carrier to walk the dreams
of any dragon the carrier had seen or known and that it would connect
the three friends so that however far apart they were, they would always
be together.

Fathom was unsure and was about to give his Dreamvisitor back when
Clearsight suddenly had a vision of Foeslayer in danger. Darkstalker
asked Fathom to go back to the palace on his own and flew off with
Clearsight. Fathom then realized he never had the chance to give back
the dreamvisitor.

Clearsight and Darkstalker found Whiteout keening in distress as Arctic
yelled about her screaming. Darkstalker found out from Arctic's mind
that Foeslayer had another fight with him and that she flew off again.
Darkstalker was about to enchant a silver armband to protect Foeslayer
when he realized that Foeslayer already had the diamond earring Arctic
had enchanted and given her in the Ice Kingdom. But then he saw in
Arctic's mind that before Foeslayer flew off, she had flung the earring
at Arctic, saying that she did not love him for his animus magic and
that she loved him more than anything.

Arctic was convinced that Foeslayer would fly back for the earring but
after Darkstalker enchanted a piece of paper to show where Foeslayer
was, Clearsight realized that Queen Diamond must have used her animus
magic to call Foeslayer back to wherever she was as Foeslayer was flying
straight towards the IceWing camp in the desert. Darkstalker wanted to
kill Queen Diamond right away with his animus magic, but Clearsight
warned him that Diamond's only heir, Snowfox, hated the NightWings and
that if she became queen, it would lead to four highly possible futures
of a NightWing genocide. Darkstalker realized that Foeslayer was gone
and decided it was Arctic's fault.

Clearsight went to the library and looked for clues on animus magic,
Queen Vigilance saw her. Queen Vigilance called for Darkstalker and
ordered Clearsight to start calculating. When Darkstalker arrived, Queen
Vigilance asked him to give some ideas on how to end the war.
Darkstalker showed her some examples of what he can do, such as
enchanting a stick so that when it is snapped, every IceWing in Pyrrhia
would drop dead. Eventually, they settled on an invisible shield around
the NightWing kingdom that made every IceWing that tried to enter die.

When the queen left, Clearsight confronted Darkstalker, asking him what
he was thinking. He said that he could enchant something to find out for
sure, but he did not want anything to tell him that Foeslayer was dead.
Clearsight told him that their bright futures were disappearing.
Darkstalker begged her not to give up on him and to focus on their
remaining bright paths.

The part ends in Fathom's point of view. Clearsight had joined him for
dinner (breakfast for her) and began to talk about her powers as a seer.
Darkstalker then comes in, asking Fathom if he wants to watch a
lightning storm from the Royal Tower, to which Indigo objects, saying it
was the exact wrong place to be in a lightning storm. Fathom finished a
small SeaWing carving that looked "unmistakably like Indigo" and gave it
to Darkstalker.

Fathom carries a goblet over to the fountain to fill it with water, only
for Indigo to knock into him and shatter the goblet into pieces. When
Darkstalker berates her for it, she accuses him of putting a spell on
the cup in order to do something to Fathom. Darkstalker insists it was
not animus-touched and calls her "Violet," which Fathom corrects. Indigo
still insists Darkstalker did something to the goblet, something
horrible and manipulative, but Fathom is sure that Darkstalker would not
do that.

Fathom then goes with Darkstalker to the Royal Tower to watch the
lightning storm, but instead of taking Indigo with him, Fathom takes
Wharf, at which Indigo is clearly startled and hurt.

After watching the lightning storm, Fathom returns to find out that
Indigo is gone, and Darkstalker shows him a letter on a desk in Indigo's
handwriting, held down by the wooden SeaWing carving, saying that she
was going home because she does not feel safe there and asking Fathom
not to use his magic to find her. Fathom is shocked, noting it did not
feel like something she would do at all.

Fathom asks if Darkstalker minds if he keeps the little SeaWing, to
which Darkstalker shows brief hesitation, but then pulls Fathom into a
hug, causing Fathom to decide he must have imagined it. Fathom decided
it must have probably been for the best, as Indigo was now safe from
animus magic forever.

### Part Three

Clearsight and Listener met up with Darkstalker, Fathom, and Whiteout in
a game pavilion where they were in the middle of a scales-and-squares
game. Clearsight then saw Arctic watching them from the shadows. Before
Clearsight could wonder why he was there, a different dragon lunged out
of the shadows and stabbed a spear right into Darkstalker's heart.
However, because of Darkstalker's invulnerability spell, he survived the
attack. Lionfish, one of Fathom's guards, lunged at the attacker and
quickly killed him.

Darkstalker, not wanting to reveal his invulnerability spell, said that
he guessed that the assassin missed. Listener said that he did not miss
and asked Clearsight what she saw. Clearsight said that she did not know
what she saw, and added that she wanted to know why he tried to kill
Darkstalker. Thoughtful then indicated that he knew him by reputation
and said his name was Quickdeath. Darkstalker confidently said that they
would find out who hired Quickdeath and stop them from trying again to
kill him again.

Clearsight then more privately accused Darkstalker of his miraculous
survival and that Listener was right about it having hit him in the
heart. Darkstalker admitted to his invulnerability spell. Fathom is
scared for Darkstalker, and Clearsight told Darkstalker to tell Fathom
about the scroll. Darkstalker was surprised and asked if that was safe,
to which Clearsight responded that Darkstalker shows it to him in all
the good futures. Darkstalker said that he also showed it to him in the
bad futures, too.

Darkstalker started trying to figure out why Arctic might try to kill
him, and he swooped into his house. He noticed Whiteout sitting on their
couch with a glass seashell necklace and Darkstalker asked if she was
dreaming of Thoughtful, referring to him as her 'new admirer'. He noted
her abnormal responses and she said she was feeling funny.

Darkstalker walked to Arctic's room and told him that he is alive and
said that he saw Arctic at the pavilion watching. Darkstalker asked if
he knew the dragon who attacked him. They had a conversation concerning
Quickdeath's actions.

Darkstalker concluded that Arctic was not the one who hired Quickdeath
and then went to his room and asked himself who else other than Arctic
would want him dead. He enchanted a piece of parchment to reveal the
name of the dragon who tried to kill him and then froze with surprise at
what the scroll said.

Clearsight woke up in her room at the palace with a huge headache from
her horrible nightmares about Darkstalker turning evil. She stumbled
over to the window and spotted Queen Vigilance and Allknowing strolling
in the garden and having a conversation. Confused on why Allknowing was
there after she was fired, Clearsight hurried down to the garden to talk
to the queen. The queen unexpectedly demanded to know if Clearsight had
seen how she died, and which one of those futures is the closest.
Allknowing smirked triumphantly and mocked her, telling her not to hurt
herself.

Queen Vigilance ordered Allknowing to "share your mumbo-jumbo," and
Allknowing did so gleefully, sharing a prophecy about Darkstalker coming
to kill the queen and seizing the throne for his own. Clearsight
protested that Allknowing was making the prophecy up and that
Darkstalker was not a threat, but the queen did not believe her and said
that she was so enchanted by her love that she would not be able to see
it anyway. Clearsight realized that her earrings could be enchanted by
Darkstalker. She unclipped the earrings and dropped them on the ground,
and she was flooded with terrible futures. She realized Vigilance hired
Quickdeath, and then fled.

A moment later, Fathom flew by and learned the truth from her. For a
moment, Fathom is hesitant to believe this and said that Darkstalker
might forgive her since he forgave Indigo. Clearsight suddenly realized
that Darkstalker might not have forgiven Indigo and worried that he
might have done something to her, but before she can tell Fathom this,
they spotted Darkstalker.

As they touch down, Clearsight said to Darkstalker that she was not
going to let him kill the queen. Darkstalker dismissed the earring spell
when Clearsight berated him, saying that was a little spell. A vision
suddenly swept over both of them of Arctic taking Whiteout to the Ice
Kingdom, and Darkstalker and Clearsight flew off to save her, with a
confused Fathom right behind them.

As they flew out of the Night Kingdom and towards the Kingdom of Sand,
Fathom noticed dead IceWing bodies that were sprawled near the Nightwing
border. He asked Clearsight about it, and she stated that Darkstalker
had put a border shield that killed any IceWings that tried to enter the
kingdom. After flying in the Kingdom of Sand for a while, Clearsight
says that they could be anywhere. Darkstalker took out his scroll and
Clearsight asked what he intended to do with it. He said that it was not
what she thought and enchanted a dagger to stab Arctic's foot, not
killing him but forcing him to stop. A few moments passed, and
Darkstalker remembered that Arctic had an enchanted earring that
protected him. He enchanted a beetle to take the earring off, then the
dagger flew off. Darkstalker followed it, with Fathom and Clearsight
close behind.

They found Arctic with Whiteout. Darkstalker asks where Arctic was
bringing Whiteout, and Arctic said that Whiteout wants to go with him.
Whiteout agreed, and Fathom saw that there was something wrong with her
voice. Arctic planned to marry Whiteout to an IceWing and stated that he
was doing this for Foeslayer, saying that Queen Diamond would let her go
if she had Arctic. Arctic said that he would only do so for Whiteout,
and to leave before Queen Diamond's army found them. Darkstalker
realized Whiteout had been enchanted and grabs his scroll.

Darkstalker told Arctic to stop talking, and when he opened his mouth,
nothing came out. Fathom asked Darkstalker what he had done, and spotted
Clearsight with her face buried in her talons. Darkstalker ignored
Fathom and continued, telling Arctic to release the spell he had put on
Whiteout. Darkstalker saw Fathom and Clearsight's panicked and concerned
faces and told them to calm down since he saved the day. Clearsight
responded that she wanted to see the scroll, and Darkstalker handed it
to her. Fathom felt like he should not know what it said, but he read it
anyway. It said: Enchant Arctic the IceWing to obey my every command.

Darkstalker ordered Arctic to follow them to the Night Kingdom. He
landed on a stage at the Great Diamond, ordering Arctic to stand beside
him. Meanwhile, dragons had started to gather, and Darkstalker addressed
them all. Darkstalker started interrogating Arctic, who was forced to
tell the truth due to the spell Darkstalker had cast on him. Arctic
revealed he was going to give Whiteout to the IceWings so they could
breed more animi into the royal family, and that he was going to see if
Foeslayer was alive, and would give the IceWings a map of the NightWing
kingdom - plus how to get in - in exchange for Foeslayer's life. The
crowd was shocked, along with Whiteout and Clearsight. Darkstalker told
Arctic to cut out his tongue, at which the crowd stared in horror. Then,
Arctic was commanded to rip open his own stomach, which he did, swiftly
killing himself. Darkstalker turned to find Whiteout crying but
Clearsight gone. Whiteout told him that Clearsight had taken his scroll
and that she wanted to meet him at Agate Mountain.

Before Arctic's death. Clearsight crept away from the crowd. She ran
into Listener. Clearsight asked Listener about her promise, that she
would not tell her the future unless it had something to do with saving
her family - something really bad. She told Listener that if she ever
believed her, she must tell everyone to leave the Night Kingdom — fly as
far as possible, where nobody would ever, ever find them. Clearsight
realized she had caught some other dragons' attention, and they were
listening intently.

Clearsight found Fathom and gave him the scroll to find a way to stop
Darkstalker. He refuses to use the scroll and uses his own power. Fathom
enchanted her moonstone bracelet, an enchantment that only worked on
Darkstalker. She then told him that she feared Darkstalker had done
something to Indigo, and afterward, he was to hide the scroll, but no
matter what he was not to break it. She left, saying goodbye to Fathom
and flew away to Agate Mountain.

Fathom thought about what Clearsight had said. That Darkstalker might
have done something to Indigo. Fathom refused the fact that Indigo was
dead. He started to read the scroll. Fathom felt guilt deep within him,
though he knew Darkstalker had done some horrible things too. Fathom
read the entire scroll, but nothing had anything to do with a dragon
disappearing. He noticed that Darkstalker had started to put spaces in
his scroll, and realized that he was using his night vision to read, and
brought a candle over. Fathom was shocked to find out Darkstalker had
used invisible ink. He saw his immortality spell, the spell on
Clearsight's earrings, and, to Fathom's horror, an enchantment on the
goblet that Indigo had smashed, an enchantment to make Fathom stop
loving Indigo and decide to use his magic. He felt guilty for being mad
at her, as she had saved him. Then, Fathom spotted something so
startling he nearly burned the paper with the candle.

It was an enchantment that would trap Indigo in the carving Fathom had
made. Fathom hurried to the carving, picking it up. He decided to use
his magic again and commanded the carving to return Indigo to him. Then
the carving went warm, and when Fathom put it on the ground, it grew and
shifted into Indigo. Fathom confessed that he loved her and that he
never wanted to be without her again. He said he made an enchantment to
stop Darkstalker and an enchantment to bring Indigo back. They both flew
away, side by side.

Darkstalker met Clearsight at Agate Mountain. He noticed that she did
not bring his scroll with her, and he wondered why she stole it if she
did not use it. Clearsight noted that Agate Mountain would not be the
tallest mountain much longer, as there would be an earthquake and a
whole side of the mountain would fall. Darkstalker accused her of using
that as a metaphor - the most powerful dragon falling and another to
take his place.

Darkstalker insisted that they were so close to their happy future,
stating all his enemies are dead. They start a conversation from there,
talking about the futures and timelines. Darkstalker became increasingly
angry.

Clearsight, however, slipped the moonstone bracelet off her arm and onto
his, putting Darkstalker to sleep. She dragged Darkstalker far back into
the cave, crying. Clearsight rolled Darkstalker against the back wall
and checked the bracelet to make sure it was securely fastened around
his arm. Then she filled in the cave with boulders from the hills. When
that was done, she found another mountain where she could watch and wait
for the earthquake to come. She even considered staying with him and
lying down in the path of the avalanche to die.

Clearsight remembered a long-ago dream that came from a scroll she used
to read, stories about a lost continent and secret tribes of dragons
that lived there. She saw a future where she was an explorer, going out
and finding new worlds and places no NightWing had ever been or
imagined. She knew that the future was in her talons, and she could do
anything she wanted to do.

### Epilogue

The epilogue took place five years after Darkstalker was stopped in
Indigo's point of view. Fathom and Indigo had three dragonets:
Clearpool, Ripple, and Cowrie. They watched as their dragonets play and
scream alongside Blob. Eventually, they asked to hear stories, one of
which involved bad guys. Though she felt weird about it, Indigo firmly
replied that some dragons were definitely bad and had to be stopped.
Fathom, however, said he does not think any dragon is all bad. Indigo
told her dragonets that she knew a bad guy once, referring to
Darkstalker.

Her dragonets asked her for details, but Indigo replies maybe when they
were older. Indigo told Fathom he did the right thing, saying he saved
Pyrrhia from Darkstalker forever and it was safe to be happy.

### Post-Epilogue

Two thousand years later...

Centuries later, as the dragon planet spun through space, a comet passed
by, close enough to shine like a fourth moon in Pyrrhia's sky.

Close enough to change the tides and shake the continents.

As earthquakes rumbled through the ground, long-buried rocks shifted
that had been in place for thousands of years. Deep underground, in the
darkness, copper wires snapped.

And a dragon awoke...

## Mistakes

  - In A Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia, IceWings are described as
    having "silver scales like the moon"[1] even though there are
    three moons.
  - The term birthday is used instead of hatching day.
  - Indigo is described as having both dark purple eyes and dark blue
    eyes.
  - The phrase on the other hand is used instead of on the other talon.
  - The term hand is used instead of talon.

## Trivia

  - There was a Barnes & Noble exclusive edition with a foldout map of
    Pyrrhia in Darkstalker's time.[2]
  - Tui considers Darkstalker to be her "darkest" book, while her editor
    disagrees.

## International Releases

  - 'French:' Les Royaumes de Feu. Légendes: Spectral (June 2016)
  - 'German:' Wings of Fire Legenden: Darkstalker (August 2021)
  - 'Italian:' I Regni del Fuoco. La Leggenda di Darkstalker (October
    2018)
  - 'Korean:' 불의 날개와 다크스토커의 전설 (September 2023)
  - 'Russian:' Драконья Сага. Легенды. Мракокрад (April 2021)