"Well, now what are we going to do?" Coal asked those around them. 

Fennyr was unsure what to say. He opened his mouth to reassure the group, but before he could speak, something slammed into him; knocking him to the ground and laying its weight on Fennyr's lungs. The wind was knocked out of him and he lay there gasping, staring into Dulkrn's furious eyes. There was no more smugness in those yellow orbs; only pain and murder. 

"You did this." Dulkrn growled. "You banished me. You took everything from me. You should have killed me when you had the chance." He raised a claw to tear out Fennyr's throat. 

Suddenly, the weight on Fennyr's chest lifted as Dulkrn went flying and landing five yards away.

It was Pyria. She stood in between Fennyr and Dulkrn; wings spread, scales raised along her back, tail lashing angrily. Her teeth were bared and she was panting from her collision with Dulkrn. Even her scales seemed intimidating; glinting like diamonds in a thief's treasury. She looked alarmingly dangerous, but Fennyr was too relieved to care.

"Leave. Fennyr. Alone." Pyria growled between clenched teeth, taking a breath between each tense word. 

It took a while for Dulkrn to regain enough breath to answer. "Who's going to stop me, pipsqueak? You?" He laughed humorlessly. "No one is going to stop me. I'm going to kill him before I die myself in this Allah-forsaken place."

"How do you expect to survive without him?" said a timid voice. All eyes turned to find a long-limbed youth with scales as that were gold in some lights and tan in others, and pure white horns. She seemed intimidated to find everyone staring at her, but she gathered enough courage to continue. 

"Fennyr's the strongest one here. If you attack him, he will defeat you just like he did in the arena." Dulkrn's eyes narrowed and he snarled at the mention of his loss, but the golden dragoness took no notice. She seemed to be gaining confidence as she was speaking. 

"And even if you do kill him, you would be dooming yourself to be killed by the monsters that lurk in the forest. Without Fennyr, there would be no protection from the creatures. With one death, you would kill us all." 

Dulkrn's scowl was slowly disappearing throughout this speech and slowly being replaced by a expression of thoughtfulness and concern. The dragonling wasn't done. 

"In spite of your empty bravado, you don't want to die, I can tell. For the time being, you need Fennyr. Ignoring that fact will only result in getting all of us killed." The dragoness said all of this in a matter-of-fact tone. Fennyr was awed by her calmness. 

Dulkrn seemed to be pondering this speech. The group watched him in silence. The rambunctious festivities from inside the city walls were the only sound in the stillness and reticence. 

But their hopes were in vain, for Dulkrn's scowl returned fiercer than ever. "I don't care about you. i don't care what happens to you. I don't even care about my fate. All I care about is his death." He pointed a talon at Fennyr like a wrathful god of vengeance. 

Fennyr's heart sank. Dulkrn really hated him. That's not surprising. Fennyr thought. In Dulkrn's mind, it was my fault that he was banished. 

"And if I'm going down, then by Vyln I'm going to bring my condemner down with me." Dulkrn smiled grimly. With that grin, his talons outstretched, and a look in those yellow eyes; the look of a dragon who had nothing to live for and nothing to lose made him seem truly insane. 

"Goodbye, Fennyr. I'll see you in he-" 

THUD! The sound echoed off the forest and ricocheted of the stone walls. Dulkrn seemed to be frozen mid-word. His mouth was wide open and he seemed to be gasping for air. 

Suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed lifeless on the dusty ground. Standing behind him was Azul; holding a tree branch thicker than her forearm, and so pale that Fennyr could see through her cobalt scales. She was trembling slightly and her eyes were as big as dinner plates. 

The golden dragonet rushed over to Dulkrn's inanimate body and placed a talon in front of his snout to feel for breath. 

"Is...is he dead?" stuttered a dragonet with hints of gold running through his emerald scales. 

"No. Just unconscious." The golden dragoness stated. 

"You've got a mean swing, sis." Coal said, staring at his twin with admiration clear in his startlingly blue eyes. Azul acknowledged the compliment with a shaky smile. She set down the branch and walked over to study Dulkrn with the others. 

Try as he might, Fennyr couldn't take his eyes off Dulkrn's face. He looked so peaceful while sleeping. His scowl lessened and he looked like a regular thirteen-year-old. For the first time since he met Dulkrn, Fennyr saw truly how young he was; not even close to full grown. Far too young to be carrying this burden of hate and sorrow. 

"What should we do?" Pyria asked the group, breaking into Fennyr's thoughts. Fennyr looked up to see who would answer. To his surprise, he looked straight into Pyria's sky blue eyes. Every dragon he looked at for an answer was looking back at him expectantly.

After a few moments of dumbfounded silence, it finally dawned on Fennyr. Fennyr's the strongest one here. The golden dragoness' words echoed in Fennyr's head. 

The strongest one. That meant he was the undisputed leader of the group. A group that wasn't supposed to survive the week.

That meant if they died, if would be all his fault.