“He can’t be dead,” Thorn said. “Tell me the truth, you lying bag of bones. Tell me how to get to your secret home and where Morrowseer is and what he did to —” She cut herself off abruptly.
“I can’t tell you any of that,” Preyhunter whined. “We’re not allowed to! But I promise you Morrowseer is dead — really, really, really dead.”
“No!” Thorn shouted. A burst of flame shot out of her mouth, scorching a spot beside Preyhunter’s neck. He screamed with fear, and two Outclaws jumped forward to beat out the flames on the carpet before the fire reached the tent. At the same moment, Preyhunter convulsed and lashed out, slicing at Thorn’s underbelly with his sharp talons.
“Moons-blasted crocodile spawn!” Six-Claws roared, knocking dragons aside as he leaped at Preyhunter. Another SandWing, a male dragonet around Sunny’s age, also darted forward from the other side.
But they weren’t fast enough.
Thorn’s tail stabbed down into the NightWing’s heart, and with a shriek of pain, Preyhunter collapsed underneath her, dead.
Sunny stared at the NightWing’s body, his wings lying crookedly on either side of him, his snout contorted into a final twist of despair.
He was a bad dragon, she told herself. The world is better off this way. My friends are safer now that he’s dead.
But he had a horrible life, the other half of her argued. Maybe he could have changed. Maybe there was a better dragon inside him somewhere, if someone had bothered to try and bring it out.
Thorn stepped away from the body, taking a deep breath. Six-Claws put one talon on her shoulder, and she gave him a rueful look, as if she hadn’t wanted to kill Preyhunter after all.
She might not have, if he hadn’t lashed out at her. Or maybe she had to, either way, to make sure the other NightWings know how serious — and dangerous — she is.
“It’s all right, Qibli, thank you,” Thorn said to the dragonet who’d run forward to help her. He stood on the other side of the body, looking as though he’d very much like to stab it again, just to be sure.
“Let’s try this again,” Thorn said, turning to Fierceteeth and Strongwings. The two black dragons had their heads down and their wings pressed in close to their bodies. Thorn stopped, eye to eye with Fierceteeth. “Tell me how to find Morrowseer.”
Fierceteeth hesitated, only for a moment, then said, “It’s an island.”
“Fierceteeth!” Strongwings hissed.
“What?” she snapped at him. “What does it matter anymore? It’s all destroyed anyway.” She returned her scowling gaze to Thorn. “We lived on an island, north of the continent, but the whole place was just wiped out by a volcano. Morrowseer was killed by it. That’s the truth, so, sorry if you don’t like it.” She lifted her chin defiantly.
Thorn’s claws twitched and her eyes narrowed.
I can’t let Starflight’s sister die, Sunny thought. No matter how terrible she is. Not if I can stop it. She knew it was foolish to expose herself here, but it felt like clearly the right thing to do. That was what being in the prophecy was all about — and if she wanted to keep believing in it, she had to keep acting worthy of it.
“It’s true!” she called. She pushed her way through the SandWings, who blinked at her in confusion. “It’s true, don’t hurt her.” She stumbled onto the sand in front of Thorn, half a wingspan from the NightWings who’d tried to kill her.
“You!” Fierceteeth cried.
“I was there, on the NightWing island,” Sunny said, ignoring her. Thorn’s black eyes were pinning her to the sand like an exotic insect, studying every bizarrely golden scale. “There was a volcano, and it wiped out the NightWings’ home and killed Morrowseer. I’m sorry,” she added, and she was, although she wasn’t quite sure why.
“Who in the blazes are you?” Thorn asked.
“This is the one who was following them,” Six-Claws said, nodding at the black dragons. Fierceteeth scowled; Strongwings just looked shocked.
“Ah,” said Thorn, tilting her head. “Really. So … you’re not here to see me about the reward?”
What reward? Sunny shook her head. “I’m just trying to stop them before they hurt my friends,” she said, and then added, with a rush of hope, “Please don’t let them send a messenger to Burn. It’ll put a lot of dragons in danger.”
“Really,” Thorn said. She twisted to look at the NightWings. “What do you have to say about that?”
“We have information we know Burn will pay handsomely for,” Strongwings said, glaring at Sunny. “Not only us — I’m sure she’ll reward anyone who helps us get to her. And she’ll pay even more if you throw in this puny dragonet.”
Thorn regarded Sunny skeptically. “Why?”
Sunny shook her head, but of course that wasn’t going to stop him.