“No!” Starflight yelled. “I promised them! I promised them!” He flung himself at the back of the nearest NightWing, but the dragon shrugged him off easily. “You can’t kill them!”
Starflight hadn’t wanted to be taken prisoner, but these soldiers were just ordinary dragons, following their queen and doing their jobs. They wanted peace as much as he did. They didn’t deserve to die like this.
“Morrowseer!” Starflight cried. “Stop them!”
“You are peculiar,” Morrowseer said from the shadows right beside him. Starflight jumped. “They’re only a handful of SkyWings. Why would you care?”
“Can’t you spare them?” Starflight said desperately. “Please let them live.”
“It’s much too late for that,” said Morrowseer.
Starflight turned to face the flames and realized that this had been Morrowseer’s plan all along. That’s why he’d chosen a remote location with a limited number of dragons. That’s why he didn’t care if the soldiers questioned Squid’s presence — it was all part of the test. But whether the dragonets passed or failed, he’d planned to kill all the SkyWings, no matter what.
To erase any evidence that we were here — by murdering any witnesses who might wreck our story.
He stared hopelessly into the fire, certain that he’d be hearing dragons screaming in his dreams for the rest of his life.
“They nearly killed me!” Squid shouted at Morrowseer. “Just like I said they would! I quit! I don’t want to be in the prophecy anymore! There’s no treasure and it’s boring and stupid and I’m hungry and I hate your island and I want to go home!”
“Fine,” Morrowseer snarled coldly at him. “I’ve never met a dragonet more pointless than you. Go sniveling back to the Talons of Peace. See if you can find them by yourself. I hope you die on the way.” He shoved Squid forcefully in the chest. “Get out of here! Go!”
Squid stumbled back, slipping on the wet rocks. It took him a moment before he could talk. “By myself?” he squeaked. “But — but you wouldn’t — my dad is the leader of the Talons — you have to be nice to me. You can’t send me off —”
“I certainly can,” Morrowseer hissed. Lightning flashed in the sky above him, illuminating the dark mountains looming over them all. “Leave or I will kill you. I never want to see you again.”
Three moons, Starflight thought. He really hates Squid.
“Wait,” Fatespeaker said, reaching toward the SeaWing. “Morrowseer, wait. He’s one of us. We can’t lose him.” Squid grabbed her front talons and squeezed, looking desperate.
“We have another one,” Morrowseer said. “We just have to retrieve her from the rainforest. But she’s clearly made an impression on any dragons who’ve run into her, so we’re stuck with her. Whereas this one is nothing but useless.”
“It’s not fair,” Squid whined. “It’s not my fault some other SeaWing is better than me.”
That’s true, Starflight thought, feeling an unexpected stab of pity for the sniveling green dragonet. No one could live up to Tsunami.
“You can’t do this,” Fatespeaker cried. “Flame! Viper! Tell him!”
Viper shrugged, and Flame hunched his wings. His eyes were fixed on the cave where his fellow SkyWings were burning.
“He said he doesn’t want to be in the prophecy anyway,” Ochre said to Fatespeaker.
“I didn’t mean it,” Squid cried.
Morrowseer whipped his tail around and smacked Squid hard over the head. “Leave. Now. Be grateful I’m not killing you instead.”
Whimpering, Squid backed away, spread his wings, and lifted into the storm-soaked sky. Starflight watched him flap slowly toward the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. A SeaWing alone in SkyWing territory — Squid wouldn’t last a day. Starflight’s head pounded and he felt nauseous. Every time he thought he’d seen the worst of Morrowseer and the NightWings, they did something even more horrible.
Fatespeaker was crying, tears and raindrops together soaking her face. She pressed her talons to her eyes as if she wished she could claw them out.
Starflight put one of his wings around her and she leaned into his shoulder, shaking.
“Maybe he’ll be all right,” he whispered. “Sometimes dragons surprise you.”
“Don’t get comfortable,” Morrowseer said to Starflight. “You are running out of chances to show me you can obey orders.”
Starflight wound his tail around Fatespeaker’s, thinking, Why should I have to? Who decided you get to order me around? He realized he didn’t even care if Morrowseer read his mind, and he stared at the big dragon, waiting for a reaction.
Morrowseer looked away first. “Back to the island,” he ordered. “The others will clean up this mess.” He flicked his tail at the ruined guardhouse, then leaped into the sky.