Not just any NightWing: Deathbringer.
The assassin lifted his head and regarded them. His wings rose and fell as he breathed, and the cage seemed too small for him. “Hello, SkyWing. Glad to see you on the outside of the cages this time.”
“What does it take to become an assassin?” Flame blurted. “I want to know the best way to kill another dragon fast.”
Deathbringer stood up and took a step toward the bars. “You mean, the best way to kill another dragon and not care,” he said.
Flame hissed and lashed his tail.
“You have to be doing it for a really good reason,” said Deathbringer. “And you have to believe in that reason completely. You also should avoid talking to your targets, in case you find out that they’re beautiful, sarcastic, and fascinating. For instance.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Flame asked with a snort. “Is that why you’re in here?”
The silver scales under Deathbringer’s wings glinted faintly in the torchlight as he shrugged. “Perhaps. But it’s not a terrible thing to question your orders, if you ask me.”
Flame flicked his tail and fidgeted with one of his wings.
“What orders?” Fatespeaker asked Flame and Starflight. “Who is this?”
“Can’t one of your visions tell you that?” Flame asked snidely.
“This is Deathbringer,” Starflight explained. “He was sent to kill my friends, but instead he let us go and he saved Glory from the other NightWings.”
“Three moons, keep your voice down,” Deathbringer said, looking nervous for the first time. “I think I’m the only dragon down here — apart from Queen Splendor — but you never know.”
“That’s Queen Splendor?” Starflight asked.
“The first RainWing captured by the tribe,” said Deathbringer. “She’s the one who accidentally scarred Vengeance. The idea was, once we had their queen, they’d do whatever we wanted. Little did we know that not only do they have multiple queens, apparently they can go for months without noticing one is missing either.”
“Yikes,” said Fatespeaker.
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Flame said.
“That’s all going to change,” Starflight said. Glory will make sure of it.
“Because of Glory?” Deathbringer asked. Starflight jumped. Had the other dragon read his mind?
They stared at each other for a moment.
“Yes,” Starflight said finally.
The look on Deathbringer’s face was so obvious — so real and sad — that Starflight had the weird experience of being able to see what his own expression must be every time he thought of Sunny.
“Who’s Glory?” Fatespeaker asked.
“That’s … a long story,” Starflight said.
“I’m going back to bed,” Flame growled. A small burst of fire curled out of his snout as he pushed past Fatespeaker. “This is pointless.”
“Wait,” Deathbringer said. “Just — remember that you’re your own dragon. You don’t have to do what you’re told. You can at least ask questions.”
“So I can end up like you?” Flame snapped. “Behind bars, soon to be dumped into a pit of lava? That does sound like great advice.”
Deathbringer shrugged. A ghost of a smile crossed his face. “It could be worse.”
“Like if you’d killed any of my friends,” Starflight said. “That would be worse.”
Flame snorted again and slithered away up the tunnel. Starflight watched the flickers of fire around his snout moving through the shadows, past Splendor’s cage, and back to the stairs.
“So Glory’s all right?” Deathbringer said to Starflight. “She made it back?”
Starflight nodded. “But she’s pretty mad about all the imprisoned RainWings.” He hesitated, thinking that he really shouldn’t trust this NightWing, no matter how much he’d helped them.
“Of course she is,” said Deathbringer with another half smile. “I never thought that was a good idea, for the record.”
The niches for the coals down here were rough, hacked out of the jagged rock walls instead of neatly carved and chiseled like the ones on the upper floors. So the shadows all had sharp edges, like talons trying to claw their way out of the stone. The heat was even worse than the blazing sun in the Kingdom of Sand, and Starflight’s head was starting to ache.
“You don’t — um, you don’t seem …” Fatespeaker started, then trailed off.
“Like a typical assassin?” Deathbringer finished for her. “Well, a lot of energy went into training me. But then I was sent to the continent and … I guess when you’re on your own for a while, you start thinking your own thoughts instead of anyone else’s. I’m afraid that makes me quite a disappointment to the queen.”
Fatespeaker grabbed the bars. “You’ve met the queen?”