The Brightest Night

  The messenger let out a horrified squeak. “Then we’re definitely all going to die!”

  “Stop that,” Smolder said, giving him a quick shake. “There are enough SandWing soldiers here to fight off any invasion.” He held out his talons and Sunny passed Flower to him. Smolder set his pet gently in a side room with no windows. “Stay,” he said sternly, pointing a claw at the little scavenger.

  Flower put her paws on her hips and chattered something indignant at him, but he ignored her and swept on up the corridor.

  “I don’t have time to lock you up again right now,” Smolder said to Sunny. “But I’m still watching you. If you try to escape while we’re fighting, you’ll end up back in that tower and you’re never coming out again.”

  “I get it! You’re menacing!” Sunny shouted at him. “Now what are you going to do about Queen Scarlet? You should send more guards to watch her right now. She’s the one you should worry about escaping. At least I won’t murder everyone on my way out!”

  Smolder’s stern expression wavered for a moment as he looked down at her. “I think I should be offended that you’re obviously more afraid of my prisoner than you are of me,” he said. “But I suppose I’ll worry about that later. You!” he shouted at a pair of guards running by. “Find four more soldiers and take them to guard Burn’s weirdling tower. With your lives, you understand?”

  They nodded, about-faced, and took off toward the tower.

  “Thank you,” Sunny said, more than a little surprised that he’d actually listened to her.

  Now they could hear roars and snarls and the clash of claws outside, along with the sound of shouts and running talons all over the palace.

  “Watch her,” Smolder said to the messenger, pointing to Sunny.

  An unearthly shriek tore through the morning air and Smolder hurtled into the nearest courtyard, then up into the air. The black diamonds on his wings flared like crows taking flight as he soared higher, then banked sideways and shot toward the outer wall.

  Sunny ran into the courtyard behind him and spread her wings.

  “Wait,” the messenger protested. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “To see what’s happening!” Sunny said. “I want to know who’s winning, don’t you?” Because if it’s Scarlet’s “friends,” then I need to get out of here, no matter what Smolder thinks I’ve promised him.

  “Um,” the messenger said, twisting his tail between his talons. “But … I’m not sure….”

  “Come on!” Sunny launched herself into the sky and heard the scramble of his claws behind her as he followed.

  She aimed for the highest point of the palace that she could see: a spire with an open pavilion platform at the top. The corners of the roof were carved like dragon wings open in flight, and wind chimes on each side glittered and whispered in the faint breeze. In a few moments her claws touched down on white stone and she took a fluttering step for balance. Spread out before her, to the south of the stronghold, was the battle.

  Sunny squinted, her eyes adjusting to the light of the rising sun as she searched for distinctive colors — perhaps the blues and greens of SeaWings, or the white and pale blue of IceWings, as Smolder expected — or perhaps the reds and oranges of loyal SkyWings come to rescue their queen.

  But there was something strange about this battle. Sunny couldn’t see any unusual colors down there — nothing but the tan, pale yellow, and off-white scales of SandWings.

  SandWings fighting SandWings.

  Was it Blister’s army attacking? But it didn’t look like a whole invading force. In fact, if Sunny had to guess, she’d say there were only about thirty dragons attacking the stronghold, against about a hundred defenders.

  And then she saw a flash of sunlight catch on a gold arm bracelet, and she leaned forward with a gasp.

  That’s Thorn.

  Now that she’d spotted her, it was unmistakable. The wiry, pale yellow dragon was deep in the thick of the fighting, slashing at SandWing soldiers with her talons and stabbing her tail as she rose into the air, then dropped below two warriors, then hurtled up to smash into another.

  Sunny scanned the rest of the attackers and picked out Six-Claws, then Qibli, fighting as close to Thorn as they could.

  This wasn’t another army, or one of the SandWing sisters. The stronghold was being attacked by the Outclaws.

  My mother came to get me, Sunny thought, her scales humming with joy. Six-Claws must have told her the truth instead of the lie we came up with.

  But then she took another look at the battle, and her heart sank.

  Five SandWing soldiers lay dead on the sand, but the Outclaws were still outnumbered almost four to one. Smolder was shouting orders as he shoved soldiers into formations, tightening the defenses so a bristling wall of spears was ready to ram the scattered attacking dragons. One wave of SandWings piled into Six-Claws, who staggered back with a roar, losing height so his bloodied tail swept the sand below him. Sunny watched in horror as seven soldiers encircled Thorn, cutting her off from her allies.

  The Outclaws came to rescue me — and it’s going to get them all killed.

  Sunny paced from one end of the pavilion to the other, her heart pounding. Her eyes hurt from staring at the battle, as if she’d been trying to change the outcome with the power of her eyeballs.

  Don’t die trying to rescue me. Please, please, please don’t die.

  It was almost killing her to watch as her mother dodged flames and claws and deadly tails. A giant SandWing slammed into Thorn’s chest and tried to drive her down onto the sand. Thorn slashed at his snout and darted away. But another soldier attacked from behind her, stabbing his venomous tail down toward the center of her spine.

  Sunny shrieked with fear, and the messenger behind her nearly fell off the spire.

  “What?” he yelped. “What is it? Who’s dead?”

  At the last moment, Qibli barreled into the soldier and knocked him away. Sunny wasn’t sure her mother had even noticed how close that had been. She’s not careful enough, Sunny thought anxiously, standing up on her back legs and flapping her wings.

  “What’s happening?” the messenger said plaintively, craning to see around her.

  “It’s my mother,” Sunny said. “She’s here to rescue me.”

  The SandWing scrunched his snout at her. “Are you sure? That doesn’t sound like any mother I know.”

  “Well, that’s just sad,” Sunny said, trying to listen to him and watch the battle at the same time. “Even your own mother?”

  The other dragon made a noise that sounded half chuckle, half snort. “My parents sent me to Burn’s army to toughen me up. They said this way I’d end up as brave as a real soldier or else dead, and either of those would be an improvement.”

  “What’s your name?” Sunny asked. Down below, in the battle, Six-Claws seized two soldiers and smashed their heads together, then whirled to slash another one’s throat with his tail.

  The messenger hesitated. “Am I allowed to tell you that?”

  “Why not? My name is Sunny.”

  “I know,” he said. “All right. My name is Camel.”

  Sunny flicked her wings open and shut, brushing against the wind chimes. Camel seemed like a normal, nervous dragon. Someone she could be friends with in another life. Maybe he’d listen to reason.

  “Do you have any dragonets?” she asked.

  “Not yet, but my partner and I have three eggs hatching next month,” he said proudly.

  “So you can be a different kind of parent than yours were,” Sunny said. “The kind that takes care of his dragonets. The kind who would attack a stronghold full of soldiers to protect them,” she added hopefully. She didn’t know much about parents in general, but she knew what she would do if she had dragonets and any of them were in danger.

  “Hmm,” said Camel, looking even more anxious. He swished his tail and gazed down at the battle — the blood on the sand, the sprawled bodies, the flashing claws.

 
; Maybe this isn’t the right approach for this dragon, Sunny thought.

  “All I’m saying,” she continued, “is that I can’t stand here and watch my mother die trying to save me. Please, please, let me go help her.” She leaned toward the wide-open blue sky, imagining how she would dive in and drag all the soldiers away from Thorn.

  “Oh,” Camel said uncomfortably. “Oh, no, no. I can’t do that. If Burn finds out, she might take my eggs away. That wouldn’t be good parenting, would it?”

  Sunny sighed. “I guess not,” she admitted fairly. “But maybe I can stop the fighting, so nobody else has to die.”

  Camel hesitated again, looking down at the battle, and Sunny wondered if his partner was one of the ones out there fighting. “How?” he asked. “I mean — you’re not —” He glanced at her harmless tail and away again quickly.

  Not exactly scary. Not exactly big. Not even a little bit useful.

  He was kind of right. What did she think she could really do if she joined in?

  Is there another way to stop them? A Sunny way?

  She stared down at the battling dragons, racking her brain.

  And then something moved under the sand.

  Sunny leaned forward, staring intently. Not far from one of the fallen soldiers, a patch of sand rippled as though something were buried underneath it.

  Something, or someone.

  Sunny had the horrible feeling for a moment that the ghost of Queen Oasis herself was about to come bursting out of the sand to attack the dragons.

  But the head that popped out was not a SandWing’s. It was followed by shoulders and wings that glowed coppery orange in the bright sunlight. The dragon wriggled the rest of the way free and began swarming across the sand toward the stronghold walls.

  Sunny gasped.

  She recognized those scales — like hers, they were a color unique to only one dragon in Pyrrhia, as far as anyone knew.

  It was Peril. It had to be. Peril, the SkyWing who had helped them escape from Queen Scarlet’s palace.

  Well, first she had pretended to help them escape, and then she’d betrayed them, and then she’d nearly killed Clay, but in the end she’d done the right thing, although sometimes it was hard to remember that. But without her, the dragonets and Kestrel might have been trapped in the Sky Palace until Scarlet figured out a “thrilling” death for each of them.

  Sunny’s heart sank, thinking of Kestrel and how she’d died under Blister’s claws in the Kingdom of the Sea. How would Peril react to the news of her mother’s death?

  But more important, what was she doing here? And why was she clearly trying to sneak into the palace?

  Peril reached the walls and glanced back at the battle, but the fighting was too fierce for anyone to notice her. She spread her wings and launched herself over the wall, landed neatly in the courtyard, and darted into the palace.

  Sunny inhaled sharply as an awful thought struck her.

  Surely not.

  “Did you see that orange dragon?” she asked Camel. “I have to follow her. Come with me, so it’s not like I’m escaping from you.”

  “Um,” Camel said. “But wait, shouldn’t I —”

  Sunny didn’t hear the end of that sentence; she was already in the air and winging toward the courtyard that held the weirdling tower. She could see the dark red crown of it looming over the rooftops.

  Her talons came down with a thump in the sandpit and she glanced around at the tower door, but it was still closed, and, she hoped, locked. Not that a lock on a wooden door would be much use at stopping Peril and her fiery talons. The six SandWing soldiers arranged outside wouldn’t be able to stop her either. They looked curiously at Sunny, but held their positions.

  Camel flapped down behind her and landed on the wall, as far from the tower as he could get without losing sight of Sunny.

  She waited a moment, trying to calm down her heartbeat. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Peril isn’t here to rescue Scarlet. I mean, why would she?

  But then she heard talons clattering over stone, and Peril came running into the courtyard.

  The SkyWing skidded to a stop when she saw Sunny. Her flame-blue eyes went wide through the wisps of smoke that rose from her scales.

  “Hi, Peril,” Sunny said, hoping she sounded more friendly than terrified.

  Peril twitched nervously. “She said not to let you guys stop me.” Peril glanced around the courtyard, peering into the shadows with a hopeful expression. “Is, um — I mean, are you all here?”

  “No — sorry,” Sunny said. She knew who Peril was really looking for. “Clay’s not here, but he worries about you.”

  “Did he say that?” Peril asked. She touched her front talons together — the same way she had after Clay had taken her talons in his, when they had said good-bye, Sunny remembered. “That he worries about me? What did he say exactly?”

  “Um,” Sunny said, trying to remember the last time Clay had mentioned Peril. They’d been a little busy lately, escaping from the SeaWings and invading the NightWing island and running from volcanoes. But he had said something about her one night in the rainforest, after Starflight had disappeared. Clay and Sunny had been curled together near Kinkajou, the little RainWing dragonet who’d been injured in the contest where Glory became queen. She was asleep, and it was Sunny’s turn to watch her; Clay was keeping her company.

  “He said, ‘I wonder where Peril is right now,’ ” Sunny said. “ ‘I hope she’s all right. There’s that new queen in the Sky Kingdom —’ and I said, ‘Ruby,’ and he said, ‘Right, her. I hope she’s taking care of Peril and not making her fight anymore.’ ”

  Peril waited a moment, and then said, “That’s it?”

  “Well, then his stomach started growling, and he had to go look for something to eat,” Sunny said. “But he wants to see you again. I’m sure of it.”

  “I bet you’ve had all kinds of adventures together,” Peril said a little bitterly.

  “It’s been really scary,” Sunny said. “It seems like every dragon we meet either wants to kill us or lock us up.” She glanced around at the tower and sighed. “Case in point.”

  Peril looked down at her talons. The sunlight gleamed on the gold veins in her wings.

  “What about you?” Sunny asked. “Um, have you …” She didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Have you stopped killing dragons? Have you found a safe way to live around others? Have you by any chance come here to rescue a dragon who really wants to kill me?

  “The answer is, she’s not,” Peril said sharply. “Ruby. Is not taking care of me. She ordered me out of the Sky Kingdom as soon as she took over. She said if I ever set claws in the Sky Palace again, she’d find a way to kill me, and I’d better believe it. She said I was dangerous and unpredictable and she didn’t want me near her subjects.” Her voice broke and she coughed, ducking under one wing.

  “Oh, Peril, I’m so sorry,” Sunny said.

  “Don’t feel sorry for me.” Peril lifted her head and frowned. “I am dangerous. That’s, like, the whole entire point of me.”

  “That’s not true,” Sunny said. “You can be whatever you want to be. I mean, I could say, well, I have no barb on my tail, I guess I’m just harmless and useless and should sit in the corner covering my head whenever there’s a fight. But I don’t want to be useless and I’m not going to do that, not if dragons I care about are in danger.” She glanced at the sky, wondering anxiously how the battle was going and whether Thorn was still all right. “Um, speaking of which … I could really use your help right now.”

  Peril shook herself, copper scales flashing. “I can’t help you. I have to rescue Scarlet while everyone is distracted with that battle outside.”

  Sunny felt a cold shiver of fear run through her scales. She had still hoped maybe that wasn’t why Peril was here. “But why?” she cried.

  “I’ve been waiting days for a chance like this, when I could get her out without fighting anyone,” Peril said. “So you can tell Clay, I’m tryin
g really hard not to kill anyone.” She hesitated, looking at the guards behind Sunny, between her and the tower. “I’m trying,” she said again.

  “No, I mean, why would you help her?” Sunny asked. “After everything she did to you?”

  The breeze picked up into a quiet wind, scattering grains of sand across Sunny’s claws and bringing her the heavy, scaly smell of fear from the SandWings behind her. They hadn’t moved from their spots, but they stood tensed and ready with their weapons. Sunny guessed at least some of them knew who Peril was from visits to the Sky Kingdom with Burn.

  “I know Scarlet’s not perfect,” Peril said. Understatement of the year, Sunny thought. “But she didn’t kill me when she could have, when anyone else would have, when I was a dragonet. And she didn’t throw me out. She treated me like I was special.”

  “She lied to you,” Sunny pointed out. “About Kestrel, and about the black rocks she said you had to eat so you could never leave her. She was using you, not taking care of you.”

  “She took better care of me than my mother did,” Peril flared. “And from what I saw of her, Kestrel isn’t the nicest dragon in the world either, right?” She hesitated again, then said tentatively, “Have you seen Kestrel? Do you know where she is? I wonder … I’ve been wondering if I should have gone with her when she asked me to.”

  Sunny’s heart sank. She didn’t want to deliver this news. But I can’t lie to her literally twenty seconds after I just accused Scarlet of so much lying. I don’t know how she’ll react. But I have to tell her the truth.

  “Peril,” she said softly. “I’m really sorry, but … Kestrel’s dead.”

  Peril stared at her for a long moment, her odd eyes glowing blue and black, and then slowly, like a mountain crumbling, she collapsed to the stones and covered her face with her talons. “No, no, no,” she said. “I sent her away. I said we’d find each other again.”

  “I know,” Sunny said, wishing she could wrap her wings around Peril the way Clay had. But Clay was the only dragon she knew who could touch Peril without dying. “I know. Oh, Peril, I’m so sorry. Listen,” she said desperately. Her anxiety about the battle outside was making every scale on her wings feel like jumping off and flying away. “Listen, I’m like you. I thought my mother didn’t want me either. But I just found out that’s not true, just like you — my mother wanted me the way Kestrel wanted you. Except I’m so afraid she’s going to die before I get to know her, and that’s why I need your help, please, Peril. She’s attacking the palace right now trying to rescue me, and you could save her. I’m sorry, I know it’s awful to throw all that at you at once, but I really need you.”