The Dragonet Prophecy

Clay frantically tries to remember everything he’s learned about the queen of the SkyWings. She’s smaller than he expected, but he recalls that she’s killed all 14 challengers for her throne and is aligned with the most brutal SandWing sister, Burn. They both hate the prophecy and the dragonets.

Queen Scarlet pokes holes in what little Clay tells her about who they are and where they are going. Queen Scarlet “invites” them to the palace and refuses to allow them to say no. While Queen Scarlet’s back is to Tsunami, Clay and Tsunami have a silent exchange about whether to attack her and escape. Clay agrees to the plan and Tsunami drives the scavenger’s weapon through the soft spot on the queen’s tail and the dragonets take to the sky, flying as fast as they can.

They hide in a small cave as the sun rises. Neither Clay nor Tsunami have been exposed to so much sunlight in their lives. Tsunami notes how colorful and “pretty” Clay looks in the light of the rising sun (98). The dragonets scour the sky for the smoke signal and observe that their cave is hidden in SkyWing territory like Starflight always guessed. When the signal appears, they search for the hidden cave entrance. Spotting Kestrel’s tracks makes them realize they must be close, but Clay worries. It seems strange to him that Kestrel would leave without being more careful not to leave tracks. Tsunami concludes that Kestrel wouldn’t expect the dragonets to return to help each other and probably left in a hurry. They enter the tunnel and find the entrance to the cave they’ve in lived all their lives.

Tsunami and Clay locate the door to the cave and must find the mechanism that opens it. As they try to figure out how to get into the cave, Clay recalls a conversation he had with Starflight about NightWings. Starflight was bragging about the talents and glorious powers of NightWings. Clay soundly argues that NightWings don’t necessarily have powers. He teases that being able to fly up behind people in the dark is “just you guys being creepy” (105). He also reminds Starflight that he doesn’t have any of the powers yet either, so even the dragonets don’t have proof that secretive NightWing powers aren’t just rumors.

Finding a stick at the bottom of the boulder snaps Clay back into reality. The dragonets quietly reunite and prepare for escape. Starflight staggers in under the weight of every scroll he can carry. The others try to talk him out of taking it all with him. As they pry the scrolls from him and hasten out the door, the dragonets find Queen Scarlet and a royal guard blocking their only escape.

When Queen Scarlet hears that Kestrel is involved with the dragonets, she sarcastically comments how fun it’ll be to have “all [her] least favorite dragons in one place” (110). Clay tries to block the queen from seeing and attacking his friends, but Queen Scarlet excitedly tosses him out of the way when she spots Starflight. The NightWing freezes in place and Queen Scarlet sets his stack of scrolls on fire. She excitedly mentions having him in her “arena” (111).

Alerted by the noise, Dune enters the main hall, sees the queen and her small army, and yells for Webs to help. He springs into action, defending the dragonets. Webs joins Dune in the attack, and Clay tries to keep his friends out of the way. Queen Scarlet pins Dune as Kestrel enters the cave. Everyone freezes as the two dragons face each other for the first time in seven years.

Kestrel coldly tells Scarlet that the dragonets are “worthless” (114), and she volunteers for Queen Scarlet to take her captive and leave the dragonets. Queen Scarlet insists that the dragonets are “just the new blood [her] arena needs” (114). She commands her guard to take everyone prisoner except for Dune, who she kills on the spot saying, “what use is a crippled dragon who can’t fly?” (115).

Clay blames himself for the turn of events. Setting the smoke signal that led Queen Scarlet to their hiding place was his contribution to the escape plan. Kestrel saves Webs from Queen Scarlet’s soldiers and throws him into the river so he can alert the Talons of Peace. Everyone else leaves the cave in chains.