“Where is he?” Winter demanded. “Is he all right?”
“He was all right,” she said, her face twisted in a strange smirk of triumph and fury. “But he won’t be after this conversation. I gave your sister one last chance. She swore to me that you would kill Glory — and yet, here you are, and I know that backstabbing, face-melting queen still lives.” Queen Scarlet sighed hugely and shook her head with a mockingly disappointed expression. “I suppose if I want more dragons dead, I’ll just have to kill someone myself. And let’s see, who do I have right in my clutches …”
“Don’t kill him!” Winter cried. “What else do you want? Queen Glacier’s treasury is vast — she would pay you his weight in diamonds for his safe return.”
Scarlet snorted. “What use are diamonds to me? If I want something, I don’t pay for it; I take it. And right now, groveling prince, I only want two things: my throne back — and vengeance.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits and her tail lashed dangerously. “Here’s some interesting information for you. Your queen doesn’t want her nephew back as badly as you think. I visited her dreams with a proposal: help me drag my conniving daughter off my throne, and she could have him. Would you believe she turned me down? She said he’d been mourned already, and her duty was to the yet-unlost lives of her subjects. Doesn’t that make you furious, ice dragon?”
Winter stared down at his claws. Was Scarlet lying? Had she really tried to negotiate with Queen Glacier? And had his queen decided to leave Hailstorm to die?
He realized he could believe it. The IceWings had just survived twenty years of war over another tribe’s throne — and with nothing to show for it except too many dead warriors. Queen Glacier would not be eager to plunge them back into another conflict, especially on behalf of a dragon she couldn’t trust and wouldn’t want to see in charge of the Sky Kingdom again anyway.
“So you’re his only hope,” Scarlet taunted him. “Or at least, you were. It’s all over now, though. I can see that you’re far too useless to kill anyone for me. My only remaining pleasure is watching your face as I tell you your brother will be dead by morning.”
Winter’s head jerked up. Wait —
He backed away from Scarlet, blinking rapidly. I have to wake up. He dug his claws ferociously into one shoulder, but felt nothing. The dream-cave still held him, and Scarlet’s yellow eyes watched with menacing amusement.
“Perhaps you’d like to hear how I plan to kill him,” she mused. “I could slowly burn him to death. That would be lengthy and painful.”
Winter turned and stumbled out of the cave. Was there a way out through the passages? He tried to visualize snapping awake. Opening his eyes. Sitting up and finding himself in the valley.
It wasn’t working. Scarlet’s mocking laugh followed him through the narrow maze, echoing off smooth stone walls that all looked the same.
“Maybe I’ll gouge out his eyes first!” she called. “Maybe I’ll stuff live goats into his throat until he suffocates!”
Winter stopped running and fumbled for his ankle. He felt the weight of the skyfire pouch there, solid and heavy.
“Don’t you want to beg?” Scarlet shrieked. “Don’t you want to offer to do anything for me? What if I told you to kill the RainWing who’s with you? What else could you throw at my feet, desperate prince?”
With trembling claws he ripped at the cord binding the pouch to his scales. Finally he yanked it free and dropped it on the ground.
MOON! he yelled in his mind. Wake me up! Wake me up RIGHT NOW!
Barely a moment later, he felt talons on his shoulders, shaking and shaking him until finally the dream world tore away like wet paper, and he was sitting up on the grass, eyes popping open, wide-awake.
Moon let go of him and took a shaky breath. “Are you all right?” she whispered. Behind her was Qibli, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
They all looked down at the skyfire pouch. Winter had really managed to tear it off in his sleep, and now it lay between them … leaving Winter’s mind exposed.
Moon immediately picked it up and handed it to him. “Tell me what happened,” she said.
“Queen Scarlet was in my dream,” Winter said, tying the pouch back on.
“Well, no wonder,” Qibli said. “You’ve been thinking about her all day.”
“No,” Winter said. “I mean, it was really her. Dreamvisiting me.”
They both got it at the same moment.
“That means she’s seen you,” Qibli said, completely awake now. His tail curled up into attack position. “In order to visit your dream, she must have seen you. Today, or she would have done it sooner.”
“Scarlet saw you today,” Moon echoed. She jumped to her feet, turning in a circle. “In this valley. Where we are right now.”
“Exactly,” Winter said. “Which means … Scarlet is somewhere close by.”
A breeze whipped through the trees, hurtling wet droplets over their wings. The low embers of the fire made a hissing sound, and Pyrite shifted in her sleep with a grunt.
“Scarlet is close enough to watch this valley,” Moon said again. “Kinkajou was right; we were being spied on.”
“She said my brother will die in the morning,” Winter said. He took a deep breath, trying to shut up his hammering heart. “She said now that she’s seen me, she knows I’m not going to kill anyone for her.” How could she tell, just by looking at me?
“That’s a good thing, that you’re not that kind of dragon,” Moon reminded him, nudging his side.
“Did you see any clues?” Qibli asked. “About where she is now?”
Winter shook his head. “We were in a cave, in my dream. It looked like any other cave, underground or in a mountain somewhere. Except … at one point, her face seemed to change in front of me, and the face I saw underneath — apart from being horrible — it looked like it was lit by moonlight.”
Qibli looked up at the sky, his black eyes darting from the moons to the peaks. “Half the mountain range is in shadow right now,” he said. “We fly to the other side and search. Everywhere in view of this valley. We go now.”
Moon took a step toward Kinkajou, and Winter reached out to stop her. The RainWing slept peacefully, a half smile on her face, her scales dappled in silver splotches like the moonlight that fell through the leaves and across her wings.
“This is what your queen said not to do,” Winter reminded Moon in a low whisper. “We’re going to confront Scarlet. She could rip Kinkajou apart in a heartbeat. Glory would want her to stay out of it — and you too.”
“I’m not staying out of it,” Moon said fiercely. “You need me if you’re going to find her. I’m not going to hide. I don’t do that anymore.”
“Then keep at least half your promise to your queen,” Winter said. “Leave Kinkajou asleep and safe.”
“He’s right,” Qibli said. “Glory would definitely not want you both marching off to find Scarlet.”
Moon blew out a breath that ruffled the tree branches around them. “She’s going to kill me,” she whispered, glancing back at her sleeping friend.
“Better that than Scarlet killing her,” Winter pointed out.
“All right,” Moon said. She shook her head. “All right. Let’s go.”
Winter was in the sky by the end of her sentence, winging toward the eye-shaped rock formation. From there they could sweep south and around the circumference of the valley, checking the mountain crags and crannies. It was a lot of distance to cover, and perhaps Scarlet had flown off as soon as she saw him, ending up hundreds of miles away by now.
But now that he’d seen her thirst for vengeance firsthand, he had a strong suspicion she was still nearby. She’d want to watch Winter’s despair the next morning, and whatever panicked action he took next.
So if she was close — and if Moon could catch Scarlet’s mind — maybe they had a chance to stop her while Hailstorm was still alive.
If he even is still alive, and she isn’t just torturing us.
“Let Moon go first,” Qibli said, soaring up beside him. “No offense, but you’re glowing like a fourth moon up here, and I’m not exactly the most shadowy dragon myself. She’s practically invisible in the night sky. That’s kind of the point of her whole tribe, after all.”
Winter twisted around and had to admit to himself that Qibli was right. It took him a minute to even see Moon behind him; she faded perfectly into the dark, and her silver scales looked exactly like distant stars.
But he wanted to lead the way. He wanted to find Scarlet first and sink his claws into her neck. He wanted to be the one who rescued Hailstorm, the hero who brought him back, the dragon who surpassed all his parents’ expectations.
His wings wavered in the air. His luminous, treacherous wings, which reflected the moonlight to anyone below who might chance to look up.
This is not about your place in the rankings. It’s not about what Mother and Father and the queen think of you.
It’s about saving Hailstorm.
He fell back, lifting up into the cloud cover. The dense, rain-soaked clouds around him made it hard to see the land below, but they would also hide his gleaming blue-white scales from anyone watching.
Moon shot out ahead, sweeping low over the mountain ridge. Her head tilted from side to side, listening, and she flew in long glides, keeping her wingbeats quiet and spaced apart. Qibli and Winter followed, imitating her.
The folded, crooked peaks whooshed silently past below them.
Winter felt the minutes ticking by with awful urgency. What if Scarlet guessed they were coming and left? What if she killed Hailstorm now instead of waiting until morning? How soon was morning? Was the sky getting lighter in the east?
He remembered her awful yellow eyes fixed on his. He tried to remember his brother’s eyes instead. Bluer than Winter’s or Icicle’s. Crinkled around the edges when he grinned, which was all the time, because Hailstorm was the only IceWing Winter had ever met who could laugh about what other dragons thought of him.
Of course, it must be a lot easier to laugh from the top of the rankings.
He’d never forgotten Hailstorm’s last words to him. Had he truly meant them? Had he always been disappointed in his little brother?
Would he feel differently if Winter came flying in to rescue him?
Moon suddenly checked herself, flaring her wings to come to a stop in midair. Winter and Qibli did the same, farther up in the clouds. Winter’s heart was thudding so loud he thought they must be able to hear it in Glacier’s palace.
He scanned the area — a stretch of rocky slope leading up to a peak, where several flat ledges and outcroppings directly overlooked the valley. From here he could see the dim flicker of the fire they’d left behind, although Kinkajou’s and Pyrite’s sleeping shapes were obscured by the tree cover. But if Scarlet had watched from up here all day, she would have clearly seen Winter traversing the open spaces below. Clearly enough to guess who he was and then walk straight into his dreams.
Moon beckoned them down to her and they all dove under a narrow shelf of rock that hid them from the ridge above.
“She’s up there,” Moon whispered. “Her and someone else.”
“Hailstorm?” Winter clenched his talons, holding in the wild prickles of energy that were stabbing through his scales.
“I don’t think so,” Moon said. “It doesn’t have the bright glare of an IceWing mind, although it feels a little familiar. I can’t actually read it — like there’s a wall of humming between me and it.”
“Someone with skyfire?” Qibli asked.
She shook her head. “A bit like that, but not exactly the same. It might just be the distance. They’re near the top of this mountain.” She put one talon over Winter’s suddenly, making a shh gesture.
Winter forced himself to sit in silence as she listened.
“They’re arguing,” Moon said. “Scarlet’s mind is loud and angry and all over the place. I think we can get closer without her noticing.”
“Lead the way,” Qibli said.
She flowed silently over the ledge above them and began creeping up the hill, vanishing almost instantly into the night-shrouded undergrowth. Winter hurried after her, trying to be as quiet as she was. It was almost impossible; his talons were shaking with impatience and tension.
Halfway up the slope he began to hear voices.
“I absolutely hate these narrow-nosed IceWings,” spat a voice that was unmistakably Scarlet’s. “This one was worse than his sister! He barely groveled at all. I don’t think he ever had any intention of murdering anyone for me! The nerve!”
“You couldn’t convince him otherwise?” said a second voice. “Usually you are very … convincing.”
“He was obviously a lost cause,” Scarlet said with a snarl. “Kept making this hero face at me, like I’m the bad guy and he’s coming to right all the wrongs. Excuse me, who got attacked by her own artwork and then kidnapped by her ally and then blackmailed by her champion midrescue while meanwhile her own daughter was stealing her throne? Who’s the one with the hideous face-maiming? Whose throne is currently OCCUPIED by a PRETENDER who could NEVER have beaten me in a challenge before? WHO had her whole life RUINED and demolished and shattered by those STUPID HORRIBLE DRAGONETS?”
There was a pause, but before the other dragon could answer, Scarlet shouted, “ME, THAT’S WHO! I’m the victim here! Someone should be all heroically trying to help ME right all the wrongs! Where’s my rotten cavalry of loyal idiots?”
“Well … you have me,” said the voice, with a notable lack of enthusiasm.
“You barely count,” said Scarlet. “You’re weird. And unreliable.”
“Ahem,” the voice bristled. “I believe my talents have proven to be very useful to you.”
“Not as useful as if you were a proper animus,” Scarlet grumbled. “One limited power is not going to get me back my throne.”
An animus? Winter thought. Like Pyrite? Does Scarlet have two animus dragons loyal to her?
By now they had crept close enough that Winter could see small spurts of flame coming from Scarlet’s snout. She was pacing on a moonlit ledge, while her companion stood in the shadow of the mountain, hidden from view.
Moon tugged him behind a tangle of boulders and shrubs. He crouched beside her and Qibli crept up on her other side. Moon carefully spread her black wings over them, hiding as much of their pale scales as she could. Her wing across Winter’s back was warm, like a polar bear fur wrapped around your shoulders after a swim in the arctic ocean.
“You are welcome to dismiss me from your service,” said the stranger in a cold voice. “Once you have paid me everything I am owed, of course.”
Scarlet growled low in her throat. “What do I do now?” she demanded. “I have this IceWing pawn who should be thrillingly useful, and it turns out nobody will do what it takes to get him back. ALL I AM ASKING FOR IS A LITTLE VENGEANCE. Is that so much to expect?”
“Perhaps a new strategy is in order,” said the stranger drily.
Scarlet let out a huffy sigh. “I suppose I do have to kill him,” she said. “Now that I’ve promised to about eight times. It will serve all of them right. Or maybe it won’t, since nobody even seems to care enough to commit just a LITTLE murder for me. THREE MOONS.”
She fumed in silence for a few minutes. Smoke curled from her nostrils up to the sky.
“So?” the stranger said after a while. “Are you prepared to kill the prisoner?”
Scarlet flung a rock off the edge and watched it bounce and clatter down the hill. Winter held his breath, pressing closer to Moon’s side. She hooked her front claws in the bush in front of them and leaned forward, eyes closed, head tilted toward the arguing dragons.
“Yes,” Scarlet said. “Very well. Bring me Pyrite.”
Moon’s eyes flew open and her bewildered gaze met Winter’s.
Pyrite???
What does she have to do with Hailstorm?
Did she do something to him? D
oes she know where he is?
If she does, we have to get to her first.
Winter started to scramble to his feet, but Moon pushed him back down with her wing, pointing up at the ledge.
A moment later, a dragon leaped off it and spiraled up into the sky, banking toward the valley. Winter only caught a glimpse of his scales as the firelight flickered over them, but he was sure of what he saw.
Scarlet’s ally was a NightWing.
“Who is that?” he demanded.
“I have no idea,” Moon whispered back. “But if he’s a NightWing, maybe that’s why I can’t hear him think. Maybe he’s been trained to shield from mind readers or something.”
“We have to get to Pyrite before he does,” Qibli whispered from Moon’s other side.
He was right. They didn’t have time for the mystery of a NightWing who worked for a deposed SkyWing queen. Winter slid out from under Moon’s wing and started crawling back down the mountainside as fast as he could, looking for a spot where he could take off without Scarlet seeing him. Pebbles bounced past him as Qibli and Moon followed.
“Now,” Moon breathed suddenly. She launched herself off the mountain and Winter hurtled after her. He arrowed down toward their camp, his eyes fixed on that small flicker of firelight.
“The NightWing won’t go straight there,” Qibli panted behind him. “He’ll want to sneak up and take Pyrite while the rest of us are sleeping. He’ll land and approach the camp quietly. We’ll get there first.”
“Only if you shut up and fly,” Winter growled.
Qibli didn’t say another word as they shot down the cliffs and over the trees. Winter plunged through the leaves and landed with a skidding crash beside Kinkajou.
“Yikes!” the RainWing yelped, leaping to her feet.
For a wild, breathless moment Winter thought Pyrite was gone. But then she sat up on the other side of the fire, rubbing her face.