Part One

About Queen Scarlet…..before she was evil.

“What do you mean he’s going to die?” wailed Scarlet, scratching her talons against the stone floor of the chamber. “He’s so cute!”

The older dragon shook her head. “He’s prey. We eat scavengers. They aren’t pets.”

“But mother!” Scarlet pleaded, her voice rising. “He’ll taste horrible with all of those furs all over him!” Indeed, the scavenger was covered with strange, furry coverings so only its little face showed.

“We peel the scavengers before we eat them.” Scarlet’s mother spread her giant crimson wings, priming to lift off into the air. “Now come. You must prepare for the feast tonight.”

“Can’t I keep this one as a pet? I can feed it—just last week I was looking at scrolls about scavengers. One of them said that they prefer their meat cooked, which was weird, and—“

“ENOUGH!” thundered Scarlet’s mother. “Daughter or not, a queen’s subject does NOT defy her leader!”

Most of her mother’s subjects would’ve either groveled for forgiveness, or scrambled away in terror after a roar like that; Queen Crimson was easily the most dangerous and feared queen, even more than the NightWing queen some said.

Scarlet was different (and she was used to being yelled at). She stood her ground, even took a step forward. “No! I’m freeing him, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” She dashed forward towards the cage that the scavenger was in, trying to open the latch.

Quicker than Scarlet’s eyes could register, Crimson ripped open the bars of the cage. The scavenger squeaked in terror. Crimson snapped up the scavenger and swallowed him whole.

Note to self, thought Scarlet weakly. Don’t say things like that out loud. “You-you just-“ she stammered.

“That was supposed to be a gift for future Queen Burn.” Crimson said coolly. “But I’d rather do away with it now than have someone steal it to keep it as a pet.” She shot a disdainful look at the disemboweled cage. “Now I have to go find another one.” She flicked her wings, preparing for flight. “Be in your rooms by sundown. You will not be attending the honorary feast tonight.” She spread her wings and lifted off.

Scarlet watched her go until all she could see was the flash of Crimson’s retreating back. Then, without thinking, she turned and ran into the tunnels.

The SkyWing arena tunnels were rumored to be haunted by an old SkyWing animus dragon, Quetzalcoatl. Those rumors were untrue, and only spread to keep dragons out of them, as they were a network of secret prison caves where the prisoners slated to die in the SkyWing arena were housed.

Scarlet turned corners, not knowing or caring where she was going. She finally ended up in front of a seemingly deserted prison cave. The rage that had built up inside of her finally exploded out of her. She seethed, her breath coming short and fast.

Her mother had eaten a defenseless scavenger, a scavenger she was to give to a princess to secure an alliance, just because Scarlet had wanted to keep it as a pet.

Smoke curled out of Scarlet’s ears.

Well, she had tried to set it free. That didn’t work like she had planned. She hated the idea of anyone eating those cute things. She stood to pace, but snagged her claw on a rouge stone.

“Ouch!” she cried, instinctively lifting her foot to make the sharp pain stop. She gingerly set it back down with a hiss. Clumsy me. Always running into things. Although that wasn’t exactly running into something…

“Are you alright, miss?” A voice echoed throughout the darkness.

Scarlet jumped, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. It sounded like it was coming from the darkness in front of her.

“Over here,” A plume of fire lit up the darkness. “My eyes have adjusted better than yours. I’ve been here for quite some time.”

Scarlet stepped lightly towards the flame, and was met with metal bars. A cell. Whoever was talking to her, they were a prisoner.

“Hang on, miss. I’ve got a torch in here somewhere. It’s been a while since anyone besides the jailer has come to see me.” She heard the sound of talons scraping across stone, and she shivered.

“Aha! Here we are!” Fire erupted out of the darkness again, and Scarlet could see the outline of a dragon, coming closer. The light steadied as the dragon set the torch in a sconce. He stepped into the light and Scarlet saw his haggard face was pitted with scars. There was a long, jagged one that stretched from the bottom of his left eye to the top of his snout. There were several lighter, shallower cuts, but the larger one seemed to be infinitely deep in the low light.

“Who are you?” Scarlet whispered.

He gave her a slight bow. “Ruby, former assassin in training.” He sighed. “What my mother was thinking when she named me, I have no idea.”

Scarlet laughed. “How long have you been down here?”

“About fifteen years.”

“Fifteen years? What did you do to deserve such a punishment?” Scarlet asked. “You don’t look much older than that.”

“A few colleagues and I tried to steal your egg from the royal hatchery.”

Scarlet bristled. “Why?” She demanded.

Ruby winced, like the memory was painful to recall. Or maybe it was the intensity of the glare Scarlet was giving him. She decided to tone down her expression down a few notches, just to be safe.

“Our group was a rebel group, against Crimson’s rule. You’ve no doubt heard of a few.” He said. Scarlet nodded. “Anyway, we wanted to take your egg, then reinstate you in a few years as queen after we took down Crimson.”

Scarlet recoiled. “You wanted to kill my mother?”

“Well, we can both agree she’s not the best queen.”

Scarlet thought about that for a moment. About the hundreds of soldiers that Crimson would send to other territories if she were able to convince Burn to ally with her. About the thousands of dragons starving all across the SkyWing territory. About the fiasco this afternoon. “Maybe you’re onto something.” She said. “Continue.”

“Anyway, we broke in at midnight; me, Flare, Soar, Sonic, and Beryl. We snuck into the hatchery. I was on guard with Sonic, when I heard Flare call out. I turned around to see him with a spear through his heart. That’s when I realized we had been discovered. Soar and Sonic were almost out when they were shot down too. I ran to help Beryl, who had your egg. She passed it off to me, and tried to cover for me, but the guards cut her down. And-” His voice broke. “She meant everything to me. I was only a year old”

“You were only a year old.” Scarlet echoed faintly. “That’s young, to have experienced that much tragedy.”

“Beryl was the one I ran to when our parents abused us.” He whispered. “She was the ray of sunshine in the dark. And I failed her. It’s my fault she’s dead.”

Scarlet wished she could think of something to say, but all that came to her was, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.” said Ruby. He took a deep breath. “Anyway, I was three feet from the window when they subdued me. Three feet.” He shook his head angrily. “I was so close. My friends-all dead for nothing.”

Scarlet had never really had any friends. She didn’t know what it felt like to lose them. She didn’t want to know. “Well-” she realized she hadn’t introduced herself. “Three moons! Where are my manners? I’m-”

“-Princess Scarlet.” Ruby finished.

“How did you know?”

“Wasn’t hard, miss. Your circlet-?” he pointed to the delicate chain intertwined around her horns. “kind of gave it away.” Suddenly, Ruby’s eyes widened. “Footsteps! Coming this way!” In one swift motion he snatched the torch out of the sconce and extinguished it while his other talons deftly unlocked the cell door. “In here!”

Scarlet leapt over the threshold into the cell without a moment’s hesitation.

“Into the shadows!” he hissed. “Hurry!” He silently shut the door

Scarlet had just enough time to scamper into the shadows and hope that they hid her when the guards swept past Ruby’s cell. Further down the tunnel, she heard them talking.

“Where’s the prisoner we were going to pick up?” one of them said.

“I dunno, she didn’t specify. Let’s just choose one.” The other replied.

Scarlet closed her eyes and covered her ears, as she knew what would happen next.
One of the prisoners started screaming. “No! NO! Please! I don’t want to! I’m not ready! I-” There was a sickening crack.

Scarlet peeped open one eye, and slammed it shut again as the guards dragged the prone body of the prisoner across the floor with a rough scraping sound.

Scarlet didn’t realize she was trembling until Ruby wrapped a comforting wing around her. “It’s alright,” he said. “They’re gone now.”

Scarlet stood shakily to her feet. “I hate it when that happens.” She whispered. “I never get the sounds of their screams out of my head.”

Ruby nodded solemnly. “Me neither.” He got to his feet. “It’d be best if you left now, miss. We don’t want anyone looking for you.”

Scarlet stood as well. “Good idea. Last time they couldn’t find me, I got one heck of a yelling from Spire.” Spire was one of her mother’s advisors.

Ruby unlocked the door of the cell. “It was nice meeting you miss.”

“Don’t call me that,” she chided. “Call me Scarlet.”

“Okay, Scarlet. It was nice meeting you.” Ruby smiled.

“And you as well, Ruby,” Scarlet inclined her head in a small bow, walking out of the cell. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Ruby’s smile faded. “Are you sure that is wise? I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Oh please,” Scarlet scoffed. “I’m not worried—see you tomorrow!” Scarlet started to walk up the sloping tunnel.

The tunnel was dark, as if someone had sucked all of the light out of it in an eternal vacuum. The floors were slick with water, and Scarlet could hear a slight dripping noise up ahead. She vaguely remembered the noise from her angry plunge into the cavern earlier, and to her delight, she saw a blossom of light up ahead.

Bursting into the sunlight was disorienting, and realizing how late it had gotten was even more so. It was almost sundown. Scarlet took off at a quick pace towards the palace.

Even after living there for fifteen years, the SkyWing palace still took Scarlet’s breath away. Four soaring spires encircled the whole thing in thick walls of ruby-colored granite. The entrance to the palace itself was enormous, large enough for five full-grown SkyWings to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, wings extended. The smooth, unblemished redwood doors swung open silently on Scarlet’s arrival.

The cool tiled floor was slick, one time; Scarlet had high-tailed into the entrance and slid twenty feet across the floor, slamming into one of the marble columns. Scarlet’s talons tapped across the quartz tiles, making a clicking noise that echoed throughout the cavernous entryway. The walls soared 50 feet into the air, and shimmering tapestries flowed down from the ceiling. But the back wall was the only piece that Scarlet really cared about.

Many, many moons ago, the last SkyWing animus dragon, Magma, had carved the wall with his own claws. It had taken him almost his whole life, but the final piece was very interesting.

It was seven dragons, unified in a circle. Magma had travelled Pyrrhia to observe the other tribes, (and from what Scarlet had seen) gotten the details exactly right. He had even painted them, with paint that had never faded.

To top it all off, he brought them to life.

Scarlet normally liked them, but she was in a terrible mood from the afternoon, and from snagging her talon on the rick back in the tunnels. (It still hurt.)

Scarlet walked by the wall quickly, hoping none of the dragons would take notice of her presence, but to no avail. Halfway across the hall, Scarlet heard a: “Hi, Scarlet!”

Scarlet groaned. “Hello, Lemur.”

The bouncy RainWing sauntered over to her. “Why so glum?” he asked cheerily.

“Doesn’t matter,” Scarlet grumbled.

One of the other dragons, Copperhead the SandWing, stretched elegantly from her sprawled position and said, “Oh, she’s just mad that she’s been banned from the feast.”

Scarlet scowled. “No I’m not.” In fact, she was, but only a little.

“I would be,” remarked the stone MudWing, Asp. “I also wish I wasn’t just a carving in the wall so I could actually eat. Magma didn’t give us taste buds, but we do have a sense of smell!”

Copperhead ignored him. “Crimson came storming past here in a temper, raging about some scavenger you tried to set free. Is that true?”

“Yes.” Scarlet replied.

“I would have done it!” said Lemur, puffing out hi chest. “I don’t understand you carnivores, eating meat all the time. Don’t you know fruit is the way to go? It doesn’t run away like prey does.” He sat down contentedly. “It’s energy efficient.”

“How can you not like meat?” cried Asp. “It’s like, the BEST. STUFF. EVER!” He turned to Scarlet. “And, I wouldn’t have freed the scavenger. Crimson is to scary!” He shuddered. “When she came storming past here, I hid. Her expression was enough for me to run screaming.”

“And you also missed the annoyed look she gave you after you did that.” remarked Copperhead.

“I don’t disagree with either of you.” Said a new voice. The carved NightWing, Nightstrike, walked into view from behind a column. “I would have freed the scavenger, but only if there was no one else around.” He gave Scarlet a stern glare. “And I wouldn’t have directly disobeyed her either. Antagonizing queens is the last thing you want to do.”

Scarlet sniffed. “I don’t really care.”

Nightstrike rolled his eyes. “Why am I surprised?”

Annoyed, Scarlet stalked off. She didn’t know why the carvings had irritated her so much, but she was ready to go full Crimson and yell at everyone.

Ascending the pearlescent stairs at the end of the hall, Scarlet ran into another dragon.

“Spire, I don’t have time for another one of your pointless lectures. Why don’t you just-” Scarlet looked up, and realized that the dragon staring at her wasn’t Spire.

“Sorry, Osprey,” she said sheepishly. “I thought you were Spire.”

Osprey righted himself. “Hey, no problem. I was about to go run and hide because I thought you were Crimson.” He ducked his head, embarrassed. “One time I ran into her, but I thought she was my older brother.” He shuddered. “Never will forget that experience.”

Scarlet chuckled. “I probably wouldn't have either.”

A smile crept across Osprey’s face, then faded. “I heard you won’t be at the feast tonight.”

Scarlet glared at The Wall behind her. “Will those carvings ever shut up?” she said crossly, ignoring Lemur’s indignant, “Hey!”

Osprey backed up defensively. “All I was going to say was that the guards’ keys can conveniently disappear around the time the feast starts.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened. “You’d do that for me?”

Osprey shrugged. “Why not?”

Scarlet threw her wings around him. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”

Osprey turned even redder than before. “Uh, you’re welcome?”

Scarlet froze, realizing what she was doing. She folded her wings back awkwardly. “I should probably go to my rooms.” She squeaked.

Osprey nodded. “Three taps on your door when the coast is clear?”

“Sure!”

Osprey nodded again, then turned and walked away, a little spring in his step. Scarlet slunk back into her chambers, eagerly awaiting the three taps.

Nice except for a few stories not quite lining up such as arena being kept under ground and not at the arena very high up. But other than than that great keep up the good work

doodlebob2 wrote:

Nice except for a few stories not quite lining up such as arena being kept under ground and not at the arena very high up. But other than than that great keep up the good work

I realized that, and the (not vey good) explanation is that Scarlet remodeled everything when she became queen, but good point.

Nightfall452 wrote:

doodlebob2 wrote:

Nice except for a few stories not quite lining up such as arena being kept under ground and not at the arena very high up. But other than than that great keep up the good work

I realized that, and the (not vey good) explanation is that Scarlet remodeled everything when she became queen, but good point.

Do you think that she, Crimson was in the sand wing succession or did Scarlet start the alliance with burn. Also what do you think Scarlet did with the caves after she remodeled, do you think she kept firebomb cacti in them maybe?

The entire document is already typed, I just need to add more. (Doing that now)

Part two

tap tap tap. Scarlet’s head shot up. She’d been staring out of her window for three hours, absentmindedly reading her history scroll. She stepped over a pile of blankets, and then peered through the keyhole in her door.

“Osprey?”

“The one and only!” The door swung open. “So, do you want to go to the feast, or somewhere else?”

Scarlet thought for a moment. “Not the feast.” She decided. “I never really liked feasts anyway.”

Osprey held out his arm. “Where to, milady?”

Scarlet took it. “The arena prison tunnels.”
Osprey gave her a quizzical look, but lead her out of the room. “Okay then. Not what I was expecting.”

“And let’s stay out of sight and earshot of The Wall.” Scarlet whispered. “The last thing I need is for Copperhead or Nightstrike to see me and blab to Crimson.”

Osprey shuddered. “Agreed. That would not go well.” Sliding into the shadows across the hall, behind one of the marble columns, and started to tap the wall.

Scarlet snuck up beside him. “What are you doing?”

Osprey continued tapping an erratic pattern on the wall as he spoke. “There’s a hidden tunnel here somewhere. And-aha!” The wall in front of them shifted aside to reveal a spiraling passageway lined with flickering torches. “Follow me.” He leapt over the steep threshold.

Scarlet stepped in, awed. “How did you find this place? Where does it lead? Did you light the torches?”

“I was hiding from Spire,” Osprey replied, “He was mad I had tracked mud all in the entryway. I was trembling so hard I accidentally opened it. It leads to the prison tunnels; I believe it was used to transport prisoners. And the torches were lit when I found them, I believe they’re Everfyre, made by-“

“Quetzalcoatl!” Scarlet gasped, shrinking back. “Are you sure they’re safe?”

Quetzalcoatl was a SkyWing animus, with dark intentions. He had disguised his true nature, acting benevolent and caring. Soon, Quetzalcoatl got tired of acting, and revealed his true personality. He used his power to take over the throne, even though only female dragons could rule. He made the entire kingdom slaves, and even stole the sun. Only the SeaWing animus, Fathom, and his NightWing apprentice, Darkstalker, were able to defeat him.

Quetzalcoatl made all of his creations backfire against the user. Fire that nothing could ever extinguish, exploding turkeys (that one still gave Scarlet nightmares), and all of the nobles were pretty sure the suit of armor on the third floor had some sort of curse on it (it growled at everyone when they walked past).

Osprey didn’t seem worried. “Nah, it’s fine. If it wasn’t it would’ve attacked us by now.” He led Scarlet farther down the tunnel.

The passageway seemed to stretch on forever. Just as Scarlet’s talons began to ache, Osprey announced, “We’re here!”

Sure enough, Scarlet could see a familiar cell, and hear the drip, drip, drip, of the water from far away.

Thanks!” she said, cantering off before Osprey could follow her. Ruby was her secret.

“Hey, wait up!” called Osprey.

“Go to the feast!” said Scarlet. “Have fun, live a little. Just because I’m here doesn’t mean you have to follow me around everywhere.” She didn’t listen for a reply, grabbing a fueled torch.

If she was correct, Ruby’s cell would be just around the next corner. She turned it, and snagged her talon on the protruding rock.

“ OWWWW! AGAIN?” she shouted, hopping up and down. “WHY?”

“Scarlet?” said a voice. A jet of fire lit up the cell behind her.

“The- ow! -one and only!” Scarlet said, turning around. “Caught myself on that stupid rock. AGAIN!”

“What are you doing here?”

Scarlet sat down, shaking her foot to try to relieve some of the pain. “Visiting you.”

“But… aren’t you supposed to be locked in your room?” Ruby sounded concerned.

“Well, yes,” admitted Scarlet. “But I have a friend who is really good at getting the guards to look the other way while he steals their keys.”

Ruby’s eyes glimmered with amusement. “He sounds pretty talented.” He said. Was it just Scarlet’s imagination, or did Ruby sound… sad?
“He really is,” said Scarlet. “Anyway, I came here, A. to say hi, and B. hey didn’t you say you were an assassin in training?”

Yes,” Ruby cocked his head. “Why is that relevant.”

“Because I think it’s about time for Crimson to be done being queen. I’ve tolerated her for too long.”

A smile crept across his face. “Now we’re talking,” He picked the lock and opened the door. “No use training with bars in between us.”

Scarlet blew a jet of fire over the torch, and set it in a sconce inside of Ruby’s cell.

“So, the first rule of combat is to always be on guard,” said Ruby. “If your opponent is good enough, then they will see any flaw as an opportunity to strike.”

Scarlet nodded.

“Also, keep an eye on your opponent’s talons, especially if they are an IceWing. Their talons are serrated.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Ruby pointed to a deep scar on his tail that she hadn’t noticed before. “Very painful.”

Scarlet shuddered. “I can imagine so.”

“Anyway, I’ll be teaching you anti-SkyWing techniques, as that’s who you’ll be up against. The main thing is to look at the front talons. Since we have such strong shoulders for flying—” he flexed his wings. “—the front talons can pack quite a punch.” He clawed at the air to demonstrate, balancing delicately on his hind legs. Landing back on all fours, he said, “You try.”

Scarlet reared up, swiping the air frantically for balance, but only succeeded in making herself fall backwards.

“It takes practice.” Ruby helped her to her feet. “Try shifting around to keep your balance, instead of flailing your front legs around. The momentum from that will knock you over.”
Scarlet tried again, and again, and again, for three hours, until she could balance for a full minute.

“Very good!” Ruby said as she landed back on all fours with a thump. “You are very nimble, and doing this on a sloped surface isn’t easy.” His eyes softened. “Go back to your rooms. You look exhausted.”

Scarlet nodded, to tired to argue. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Alright,” he replied. “Stay out of trouble.”

Scarlet swiped at him playfully, but he leapt out of the way.

Ruby blew out the torch, and tossed it in a dark corner. He frowned, looking at it. “At this rate, I’m going to have to start a collection.”

Scarlet laughed, and then walked back up the tunnel.

make a part 3. this stuff is awesome!

Can you please make a part 3? I'm really excited to see what happens.

PART 3! PART 3! PART 3!

yes child