The next day Tsunami is brought to the arena while Clay and Starflight are brought to sit with Scarlet and Burn. Tsunami has to fight another SeaWing named Gill, only months before Gill tried to lead a revolution and was punished by being denied water. He is now insane. Tsunami defeats him and asks queen Scarlet for a pardon for him, but Scarlet denies the request. Tsunami kills Gill but makes it clear she wishes it were Scarlet she were killing.
Scarlet is disappointed that Tsunami won while Burn is upset that all the dragons seem to love Tsunami now. Scarlet orders Starflight brought to the arena. Vermilion announces that Tsunami and Starflight will now fight, only they refuse to. Instead Starflight opens his wings and Tsunami rests her head on his shoulder. Scarlet orders scavengers to be sent into the arena. Burn is annoyed and Scarlet snidely informs her that a scavenger did kill the previous queen. Tsunami places herself between Starflight and the scavengers. Tsunami deals with the scavengers and only one attacks Starflight but he deals with it. Scarlet decides it is a boring fight and orders the IceWings brought in. Clay counts at least eight IceWing prisoners and begs Scarlet to join the fight, knowing his two friends will never survive against that many. But before anything can happen the sky darkens as NightWings fill it. Morrowseer separates from the rest and lands on the arena floor.
Morrowseer lays claim to Starflight - and Starflight alone - but Scarlet isn't having it. Suddenly NightWings drop out of the sky, killing all the IceWings. Morrowseer declares Scarlet's IceWing problem taken care of, grabs Starflight, and leaves. Starflight calls out for his friends to be rescued but Morrowseer ignores him. Queen Scarlet is furious. Tsunami and Clay are upset to be left behind. Queen Scarlet decides it is time for Kestrel's fight and sends Clay to the arena. Clay sees the look on Scalet's face and realizes she knows he and Peril are friends.
As Clay and Peril fight physically they also fight verbally. Peril tells him how she wanted to save just him, how she wanted to be the only dragon important to him. Clay counters that his friends are important to him too. He tells Peril that he doesn't want to fight, and that maybe the dragonets of the prophecy are supposed to show other dragons how to resolve their problems without violence. He realizes the dragons in the audience are listening in, but Scarlet doesn't hear them. Instead she calls out to Clay to use his venom attack. Peril and Clay look at each other shocked. They know they didn't use the venom and if Scarlet didn't either that only leaves Glory. Clay looks to Scarlet in time to see Glory rear up and open her mouth. Burn shoves Scarlet in front of herself and flies away as Glory spits venom all over Scarlet's face. Everyone scatters in the panic and confusion. Peril breaks Clay's chains and they, along with Tsunami, reach Glory. Clay convinces Peril to help Tsunami with her chains then they all go to rescue Sunny. Glory and Sunny escape while Clay, Tsunami, and Peril go back to rescue Kestrel. On the way Clay saves a scavenger who is trying to escape, even though he knows they need to act fast, before Burn returns.
So, these chapters were pretty awesome. Things are seriously moving along. Of course Tsunami and Starflight were going to refuse to fight. And of course Morrowseer saves Starflight and Starflight alone. And while I agree with Scarlet that she needs to destroy the dragonets it is nice to see her plans blow up in her face as the audience comes to love the dragonets. And Clay trying to talk things out with Peril and accidentally getting his message through to the audience was a nice touch. However my absolute favorite moment, hands down, was when Glory spit acid all over Scarlet's face. To bad she didn't also get Burn.
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