“Mother!” Greatness yelped. “Get back in the lava!” She darted to her mother’s side and tried tugging on Battlewinner’s wing. Mastermind dashed up on the other side and started wrapping bits of metal around the queen’s limbs. But Starflight could tell that even if the armor would work, it was already too late.
With a bone-rattling shriek, Battlewinner threw off her daughter and Mastermind and surged toward Glory. Glory took a step back, and the NightWing queen collapsed on the floor in front of her. Her limbs twitched violently; her wings spasmed; her tail thrashed back and forth. White frost was starting to march between the scales of her neck, spreading rapidly across her body.
Lava dripped off Battlewinner, faster and faster as the ice started to win the battle for her body. Greatness pressed herself against the wall, whimpering, as far away from the dying queen as possible. Starflight wanted to look away, but somehow he couldn’t. He felt Fatespeaker bury her face in his shoulder.
The NightWing queen’s neck froze solid first, then her chest, her ears, her wings, her snout, all the way out to her claws and her tail. Within moments, the dragon’s entire body was encased in jagged whorls of ice. Her eyes were blue pools of rage. Her mouth froze wide open, as if she’d wanted to end her life with a howl of fury, but it was too late; nothing could come out.
Greatness and Mastermind stared down at the queen, disbelief and horror warring on their faces.
Then the entire island shook as if a giant dragon had pounded his talons into it, and Starflight felt his stomach twist with terror.
The volcano was about to erupt.
“We have to go now,” Starflight said, grabbing Glory and shoving her toward the door. He bundled Fatespeaker ahead of him, too, and they fled down the tunnel.
“Wait!” He heard Greatness yell as they ran, but when Fatespeaker tried to stop he pushed her forward. There was no time for more diplomatic conversation. Feet thumped behind them; Greatness would have to talk to them somewhere else, such as not in the middle of an exploding volcano.
The map caught on Starflight’s horns and ripped away from the wall as he threw himself out of the hole at the end. He rolled forward, wrestling the map off his head and bundling it in his talons. Without really thinking about it, he shoved it under one arm and carried it with him as he bolted for the door.
“Where are the dungeons?” Glory shouted.
“There’s no time!” Starflight yelled. Couldn’t she feel the volcano shaking? Ash was raining down all around them; cracks were zipping across the fortress walls like lightning.
“We are not leaving Deathbringer!” Glory grabbed Fatespeaker. “Point the way and I’ll go by myself. Starflight, get out of here. Get everyone off the island.”
Deathbringer? Starflight opened and closed his mouth. He hadn’t realized that rescuing the NightWing assassin was even on Glory’s agenda, let alone that it was important enough to risk an erupting volcano for.
But she’s right. He risked everything for us — for her.
Fatespeaker pointed in the direction of the dungeons and Glory took off without waiting for any more arguments.
I can’t let her go by herself! Starflight’s heart was trying to pound its way out of his chest. He remembered the NightWing skeletons in the old treasure room; he thought of the lava flow that had consumed the old forest and the skulls sticking out of it. He could feel the heat of the volcano as if it were trying to batter its way through the walls toward him.
All he wanted to do was fly as fast as he could to the tunnel and escape to the cool safety of the rainforest.
But Glory didn’t know where she was going, or what to do when she got there.
He whirled around and found Greatness behind them, wringing her talons again and looking utterly wrecked. “Where are the keys to the dungeon prisons?” he yelled at her.
“The — the — oh — there’s a set hidden in a coal niche on the dungeon stairs,” she said. “What are we going to do about the volcano? Is this it? The one that kills us all?”
Yes. “Not necessarily,” Starflight said, trying to sound far less panicked than he felt. “Take Fatespeaker to the great hall and tell all the NightWings our terms. If they’ll swear loyalty to Queen Glory, we’ll consider letting them live in the rainforest. Anyone who agrees, send them through the tunnel as fast as you can. Anyone who doesn’t, tell them to fly for the continent immediately. They need to get far away from here before the eruption — the lava and smoke could reach for miles.”
“But Glory didn’t say yes,” Fatespeaker pointed out.
“I’ll talk her into it,” he promised grimly. “Go, quickly.” He wrapped his wings briefly around Fatespeaker, feeling her scales slide against his, and then let go and ran after Glory.
He found her at the next intersection, looking around in furious indecision.
“This way,” he called. He ran past her, toward the stairs that led down to the dungeon.