a pale silvery dragon was flying through the storm, carrying a small red something in an oval-like shape. he was panting, out of breath, and seemed a few flaps away from falling out of the sky.

hvitur clutched the fragile thing closer to his cold body, getting closer and closer to his destination. he had been stealthy enough stealing his cargo, and he was so close...

but clearly he had not been stealthy enough, as deep black eyes watched him from afar. it was a pale gold dragon, scales radiating heat despite the cold. she narrowed her eyes and flicked her tail, and suddenly two more sandy colored dragons took to the skies after hvitur.

they seized him, and he let out a shriek. as they brought him down toward the dragon waiting on the mountain top, she said, "bind his mouth."

he had been preparing to attack, inhaling already when white hot chains were thrown around his snout. hvitur let out a muffled scream of agony.

"ooh, too late." the pale gold dragon said with a sneer. "you won't be using your freezing-death breath on us, ice dragon."

"he was carrying this, queen burn," one of the soldiers said to her, handing her a dragon egg.

burn scrutinized the egg for a moment, then looked at hvitur. "this is not an icewing egg," she hissed. "you stole this from the skywing palace."

the icewing stared back at her. hissing steam circled his snout where the hot chains met cold silver scales.

"did you really think you would get away unnoticed?" burn said. "my skywing ally is not a fool. queen scarlet knows everything that happens in her kingdom. lookouts reported an icewing thief sneaking away. i decided to find you, to add some nice violence to my otherwise boring visit."

burn held the large egg up to the light of the fire and turned it slowly. red and gold shimmered below the pale, smooth surface.

"yes, this skywing egg is about to hatch," burn mused. "now, why would my sister send you to steal a skywing dragonet? blaze just hates any dragon younger and prettier than she is." she contemplated for a moment as the rain continued to fall in a steady rhythm. "unless... the brightness night is tomorrow..."

her tail flicked up, similar to a scorpion's, the poisonous barb mere inches away from hvitur's eyes. "you're not in blaze's army, are you? you're one of those insipid underground peacemongers."

"the talons of peace?" one of the soldiers asked. "you mean they're real?"

burn snorted. "a few worms crying over a little spilled blood. unwrap his chains. he won't be able to freeze us until he cools down." the large sand dragon leaned closer as her soldier pulled the chain away. "tell me, ice dragon, do you really believe in that pompous old nightwing's prophecy?"

"haven't enough dragons died for your war?" hvitur snarled, slightly wincing at the pain in his jaws. "all of pyrrhia has suffered for the last twelve years. the prophecy says—"

"i don't care what some prophecy says. no prophecy decides what happens to me," burn interrupted. "i'm not letting a bunch of stupid words or baby dragons choose when i die or what i now to. we can have peace when my sisters are dead and i am queen of the sandwings." her venomous tail inched ever closer to the silver dragon.

rain pattered on hvitur's scales. he glared up at burn. "the dragonets are coming, whether you like it or not, and they'll choose who the next sandwing queen should be."

"really?" burn stepped back and turned the egg slowly in her talons. her forked tongue slipped in and out of her smile. "so, icewing. is this egg a part of your pathetic prophecy?"

hvitur went still.

burn tapped lightly on the eggshell woth one long talon. "hello?" she said. "is there a dragonet of destiny in there? ready to come out and end this big bad war?"

"leave it alone," hvitur choked out.

"tell me, icewing..." burn said. "what becomes of your precious prophecy... if one of the six dragonets is never hatched at all?"

"you wouldn't," he said desperately. "no one would dare harm a dragon egg." his blue eyes were fixed upon the egg in burn's talons.

"no 'wings of sky' to help save the world," burn said. "what a sad, sad story." she began tossing the egg from one claw to the other. "i guess that means you should be very, very careful with this terribly important little—oops!"

with an extremely exaggerated lunge, burn pretended the egg was slipping through her talons... and then she let it fall over the side of the cliff into the rocky darkness below.

"no!" hvitur shrieked. he threw off the two soldiers and flung himself towards the edge. burn slammed her massive claws down on his neck.

"so much for destiny," she smirked. "so much for your tragic little movement."

"you're a monster," the icewing gasped, writhing under her talons. his voice cracked with despair. "we'll never give up. the dragonets—the dragonets will come and stop this war."

burn leaned down to his into his ear. "even if they do— it'll be far too late for you." her claws ripped through the silver dragon's wings, shredding them as hvitur shrieked in agony. with a swift movement, she stabbed her poisonous tail through his skull and flung the long, silver body over the edge of the cliff.

hvitur's screams cut off long before the echoes of his corpse slamming into the rocks below.

the sandwing turned her black eyes to her soldiers. "perfect," she said. "that should be the last we hear about that stupid prophecy." she held out her talons so that the rain could wash away the blood staining them. "let's go find something else to kill."

the three dragons spread their wings and lifter off into the air.
.

.

.

some time later, far below, a large dragon the color of rust crawled over the rocks to the broken body of hvitur. she nudged his tail aside and lifted a shard of eggshell from underneath, then slipped back into the labyrinth of caves under the cliffs.

stone walls brushed against her wings, and she breathed out a plume of fire to light her way along the dark passage.

"i stand with the talons of peace," a voice hissed in the darkness. "kestrel? is that you?"

"we await the wings of fire," answered the red dragon. a blue-green seawing emerged from a side cave, and she tossed the eggshell at his feet. "not that it'll do us much good now," she snarled. "hvitur is dead."

the seawing stared at the eggshell. "but— but the skywing egg—"

"broken," she said. "gone. it's over, webs."

"it can't be," he said. "the brightest night is tomorrow. the three moons will all be full for the first time in a century. the dragonets of the prophecy must hatch tomorrow."

"well one of them is already dead," kestrel said. you could see the rage in her eyes. "i knew i should have stolen the skywing egg myself. i know the skywing kingdom. they wouldn't have caught me a second time."

webs grimaced, and ran his claws over the gills on his neck. "asha is dead, too."

"asha?!" a spurt of fire came from kestrel's nose. "how?"

"she was caught in a battle between blaze and blister's forces on the way here. she still made it with the mudwing egg, but she died of her wounds soon after."

"so it's just you, me, and dune to raise the little brats," kestrel growled. "for a prophecy that can never be fulfilled. let's just break the cursed eggs now and be done with it. we'll be long gone before the talons of peace return for the dragonets."

"no!" webs hissed. "keeping the dragonets alive for the next eight years is more important than anything. if you don't want to be part of that—"

"all right, enough," kestrel snapped. "i'm the strongest dragon in the talons of peace. you need me. it doesn't matter how i feel about nasty little dragonets." she eyed the eggshell on the floor, rubbing her scarred palms together. "although i thought at least one of them would be a skywing."

"i'll find us a sixth dragonet." webs pushed past her.

"there's no way back into the sky kingdom, brainless," kestrel said. "they'll be guarding the hatchery closely now."

"then i'll just get an egg somewhere else," he said. "the rainwings don't even count their eggs— i could take one from the rainforest and nobody would even notice."

"of all the horrible ideas," kestrel said, shuddering. "rainwings are absolutely wretched creatures. nothing like skywings."

"well, we have to do something," webs said. he hissed as his tail sent the eggshell skittering across the floor. "in eight years, the talons of peace will come looking for six dragonets. the prophecy says six, and we're going to make it come true... whatever it takes."

(word count: 1503)