Glow couldn't believe it. How could Morrowseer have known where they were? Did they really possess mind reading capabilities? Did they foresee that this would happen and intervene? Or perhaps they had spies within the city. Glow wasn't certain, and she also wasn't certain whether Morrowseer's arrival was a good thing or a bad thing.

       The arena went silent. The guards hovered in the sky, halfway through unchaining the IceWings. Glow caught a confused and frightened look from Snowstorm on her spire.

       All the dragons had their eyes glued to Morrowseer, whose blackness seemed to absorb all the light around him. He pointed to Starflight and addressed Queen Scarlet. "This dragonet is ours."

       Just him? What about the other four, aren't they part of the prophecy? She tried not to think of her own place in the prophecy, in case Morrowseer decided to take her and abandon Glory. And what about Evenstar? He's a NightWing too, isn't he? In fact, it had only just now occurred to Glow that the little green-black NightWing was nowhere to be found. Everywhere in the arena that Glow looked, she couldn't see him. It was like he had vanished. Where had he gone? Was he alright?

       "'Ours' who?" Queen Scarlet questioned. "We found him with some Talons of Peace revolutionaries. Are you telling me the NightWings have finally chosen sides?"

       Burn snarled in response. "Are you allying yourselves with an underground peace movement instead of a real queen?" Glow rolled her eyes with a sarcastic snort. "Real queen" she says. Shut up, you're still a princess, and you'll be dead before you get the chance to change that. Glow looked over at Frigga to see her eyes grow dark and menacing, as if she wanted to claw Morrowseer's pompous face right off and hang it above her station in the forge.

       Morrowseer glanced up at his battalion of NightWings circling above. "No." He said, his deep voice rumbling the whole arena. "I come only to claim this dragonet as ours. We will take him and go."

       "Oh, will you?" jeered Scarlet. "On whose authority? Would your mysterious queen like to appear and discuss this matter with me?"

       Morrowseer's black eyes glimmered dangerously. "Do not anger the NightWings, sky dragon. Give us our dragonet."

       Queen Scarlet stamped her foot in frustration, like a dragonet who just had their toy taken away from them. "No! I want to see him fight IceWings! It's my hatching day!"

       Glow began to feel a pit drop in her stomach, and the look of fear glistening in Frigga's eyes agreed. There was a pause before Morrowseer twitched his tail the tiniest bit. Several NightWings came crashing down out of the sky, and Glow couldn't stop herself. "SNOWSTORM! LOOK OUT!" She screeched.

       The IceWing in question whipped her head around at the black dragons trying to attack her, shooting her frostbreath at them as they tried to approach, not wanting to go down easily. Frigga was visibly struggling, trying to get free to save her only living family member left. The other IceWings were killed instantly, their silvery bodies dangling from their towers as their blue blood oozed down the sides.

       The more Snowstorm put up a fight, Morrowseer noticed. He waved a claw and the NightWings stopped attacking. Morrowseer flew up gracefully and stood on the spire. Snowstorm's proud and graceful body dwarfed in comparison to the large black dragon looming before her.

       "You." His voice rumbled. Snowstorm's pastel blue eyes glittered with anger and contempt. "You look exactly like that foolish IceWing commander who tried to make a treaty between our tribes fifteen years ago." He hissed.

       Snowstorm roared at him, although he remained unflinching. "You murdered my father! Freeze tried to make peace between our tribes for the first time in centuries, and you killed him!"

       Morrowseer wore what looked like a smirk. "Do you honestly believe there will ever be peace between our tribes? There will never be peace. There will always be war and battle, it will never end."

       Snowstorm glowered at him. "Why does it have to be that way? You had a chance. Both our tribes had a chance to right our wrongs! Why didn't you take it?!"

       Morrowseer's thick black tongue flicked out indignantly. "Because as long as your tribe persists, you will always delusion yourselves into believing that you are superior; superior to Pyrrhia and to the NightWings." Morrowseer smiled bitterly. "That kind of pride will be your downfall, and the NightWings will celebrate it."

       Snowstorm had enough. She shot a bolt of ice at him, only for him to dodge it and slam her head into the stone of her spire. She struggled in his grasp and it was becoming clear that she wouldn't survive any longer. Glow waited for it to happen, apprehension gripping her tightly as she waited for the anguished cry of her master beside her.

       Morrowseer pinned Snowstorm's wings down like Tsunami had done to Gill earlier and leaned down to the vulnerable IceWing beneath him. "Your father was a fool, and so it seems are you. So I only see it fit that you die as he lived." The massive NightWing gripped her horns tightly. "Fighting for nothing." A sickening crack was heard as Morrowseer twisted her neck into an unnatural position.

       Glow felt something collapse inside her. She knew that the two tribes hated each other, but she never realized that it was this cruel and unforgiving. Glow expected to hear her master weep and crumple beside her.

       Instead, she heard the clicking sound of unlocking metal and the battle cry of a distraught dragon. Glow turned to see Frigga launch into the air, screeching with her serrated talons outstretched and frozen tears falling down to the sand below. Left behind, was Corona, with a key in her claw and unlocking the restraints on Glow.

       Glow couldn't believe it. "Corona?! How did you –"

       "It's an all-purpose key." Corona answered as she unlocked Glow. "I filched it off one of the guards while they were hauling me away." She explained. Glow could only look at her in bewilderment. Corona shrugged. "Remember, I used to be a thief. When you grow up like I did, you can't afford to be bad at it."

       Glow flexed her wings and immediately slipped her head out of the chains and launched off, avoiding the claws of Scarlet and her guards. "Hurry, we need to help her! She'll die if we don't!" Glow cried. The two flapped wildly after Frigga as she dove at the NightWing, his face unchanged and unimpressed.

        Immediately, the cloud of darkness turned on the trio. They dove from the sky, and Glow shot a cloud of flames above Frigga to protect her from them while Corona used her tail to fend off any from behind. A select few NightWings cut Glow off from Frigga as she met Morrowseer in battle. Glow dove out of the reach of their fire and thudded her tail into one of their chins hard. They careened away while two more closed in on the SkyWing. Glow did not hesitate to fire at them. While they avoided her, she managed to burn the tail of one of them, and the leg of the other.

        "Glow, behind you!" At Corona's call, Glow felt the heat of the NightWing's flames barely lick her wing as she quickly whirled around and elbowed them in the eye. She swatted them away, a stream of red blood drifted gracefully along the path of their descent. Two more NightWings dove towards Corona, but she quickly darted out of their way. The NightWings collided into each other and Glow tackled them away with a broad blow of her shoulder.

       Another NightWing hurtled towards Corona with their claws outstretched, and she arched her barbed tail towards them threateningly. They flapped their wings wildly trying to stop, until Corona kicked them down hard on their chest. Glow released another cloud of flame, to repel the other NightWings away for a moment to recollect herself. Glow felt talons grab her and drag her down, and she let out a screech of alarm. Corona dove towards her and scratched the NightWing's snout with her tail as he whirled away, clutching his face.

       Another NightWing shot towards Glow to avenge their friend and avoided Corona's second attempt at using her tail. They swatted her away like she was nothing and Corona shot a bolt of flame to keep more attackers off of Glow.

       Glow wrestled with the NightWing on the sand. Her talons slashed at her face, but Glow was quick to dodge it. She shot another bolt of flame at the NightWing, which she avoided and then pinned Glow to the sand, choking her. Her wings were pinned down, but her back legs were free. She kicked hard in the small area between the NightWing's diaphragm and ribcage and she recoiled, clutching her belly and struggling to breathe.

       Glow whirled around and barreled into her, smacking her against the wall of the arena with a loud thud, and shot back up into the air to help Corona, who was in a bind. Corona was caught between three NightWings trying to slash at her. She was constantly darting her tail at them, trying to catch one of them with her barb, but she had no luck. She was beginning to tire of dodging them and the scratches all along her body showed that she wasn't always successful in dodging them.

       Glow shot another bolt of flame at the two bigger NightWings threatening her, and grabbed the tail of the other one. The two dove out of the way while Glow whirled the other one she grabbed around and launched him at the two escaping.

       Glow heard the scream of a familiar dragon and whipped her head around at the direction of the sound. She saw Frigga pinned to one of the spires, struggling beneath Morrowseer's talons. Morrowseer's claws were dripping with her blue IceWing blood, and his body was covered in scratches.

       Glow shot towards him as he was about to shoot a bolt of flame at her. You won't take Frigga from me! Never in a thousand years! She barreled straight into Morrowseer's large black scales. He tried to shake her off and whirled his head around to attack her. Glow was in shock over how large he really was. He was four times her size, and Glow was the largest out of the other apprentices at home, except for Willow and Whitecap.

       As Glow was avoiding the snapping jaws and fire of the large prophet, Glow bit down hard on his neck, right behind his horns.

       Except she did not expect his scales to feel like armour, and she only realized it when she felt a shattering crack in her jaw followed by a sharp stinging pain.

       She screeched as she tasted blood dripping down her lower jaw and slammed Morrowseer's head into the wall. He finally let go of Frigga and Glow thrashed and slashed wildly trying to strike him. All Glow could feel was pain and throbbing in her teeth and all she could taste was blood. She didn't even realize that she slashed him right up his neck and under his jaw line. Glow whirled away, striking Morrowseer's bleeding jaw with her powerful tail, sending him careening away.

       Glow grabbed hold of the spire trying to recollect herself and figure out what had happened. Her splitting headache from the night before returned full force and Glow wasn't sure what was happening anymore. She felt Corona's heat brush her tail reassuringly and opened her eyes to see what she had done to Morrowseer. Corona was flapping defensively in front of Frigga while Glow was trying to focus, although her vision was failing her.

       She saw the slash up his neck she had done and the blood dribbling down from where she had bit him. When Glow slipped her tongue along where the pain was piercing her jaw, she had realized that it wasn't his blood, but hers. A tooth was missing and the large canine was hanging limply from where it had broke off and she felt the skin split where her teeth had broken.

       Morrowseer had glared at her in contempt. "I'm impressed." He said, the other NightWing waiting for his next order. "I've never seen a SkyWing fight like that." He praised begrudgingly.

       Glow glared at him through malignant eyes. "I wasn't raised by a SkyWing, now was I?" She hissed, her consonants sputtered with blood.

       Morrowseer narrowed his black eyes. "Wasted potential." He growled with bitterness. "You could learn from better. IceWings only ever care for themselves and somehow think themselves superior. You're better off without this excuse for a dragon." He hissed at Frigga, who only glared at him indignantly.

       "Speak for yourself, murderer." Corona spat. The gargantuan NightWing turned his scornful snout towards the small SandWing. "Frigga would never kill a defenseless dragon, much less for such a petty and selfish reason as that." He narrowed his eyes at her. "You think you're so above us all, that you think that whatever you say goes. Well, it doesn't. I don't care what sort of magical powers you claim to have; all I care about is that you're jerks who only care about yourselves." Corona argued. Morrowseer looked as if he were seething with more contempt by the minute. "Maybe that's why you and the IceWings hate each other so much. You can't stand how alike you are. Maybe that's why you should start getting along instead of killing each other over stupid thousand-year-old squabbles." Corona hissed.

       Morrowseer snorted and turned away. "I don't have the time, patience, or resources for this right now." He flapped away and looked Scarlet in the eye. There was so much smoke coming from her nostrils that it was difficult to see her expression. Burn was lashing her tail, as if she wanted to hop in there and kill Morrowseer herself.

       Morrowseer smiled coldly. "There, we've taken care of your IceWing problem. Now we'll be going." Somehow with an obvious injury along his neck, he still looked proud and bold. He beat his wings and swooped down to seize Starflight.

       "Wait!" Starflight cried as Morrowseer's talons clutched him tightly. "What about my friends?" Morrowseer didn't even look down at the dragonets as he flew away, carrying Starflight with him. Glow readied herself to follow him until she felt Frigga's cold talons on her shoulder.

       "Don't follow him." She ordered. Frigga glared after him, tearstains lining her cheek as she watched them all fly south. "He isn't worth the trouble. For now." She growled.

       Corona joined Frigga on Glow's other side. "Don't worry, Glow." She said, her suspicious black eyes following the black dragons across the horizon. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again."

       "Hey! Down here!" They heard a small voice from below. Frigga, Corona, and Glow looked all around for the source of the sound. They couldn't locate it until they saw Evenstar unfold himself from the shadows of the arena wall.

       "There you are!" Corona exclaimed. Frigga grabbed Glow gently and flew down to the small NightWing flapping wildly. "I was wondering where you went, you sneaky little scoundrel." Corona said as Frigga lighted down, placing Glow next to him gently.

       "Well, I had to hide; otherwise they would've taken me away, too. I couldn't risk that." He explained. Glow turned her head towards him, and Evenstar examined her lower jaw. "Those must have been some tough scales if they were able to break your teeth like that."

       Glow opened her mouth for Evenstar to examine it further. He gently ran a talon along the splits in her lip where her teeth cracked off, and Glow winced with a hiss. Evenstar was making some sounds that didn't reassure Glow. "Well, one of your smaller front teeth got chipped and another broke off. It must have fallen off when you let Morrowseer go, because I can't find it. Now this one, on the other talon," He said, fingering the large canine hanging off by a strip of flesh from an oozing red crater of blood. "I'll have to deal with that once we get to Whitecap's forge. He has some pliers I can use to pull this, and the other half of it out. Otherwise, it will get infected." Evenstar suggested.

       Glow nodded, her headache pounding in rhythm to the throbbing of where her teeth used to be. She could barely focus, let alone stand up. She didn't even hear the queen barking orders and only realized that she was angry when several guards were pulling and chaining up her friends.

       She panicked, whirling around ignoring her throbbing headache as her friends began getting dragged away and they were forcing the wing bands back onto Glow's wings. The guards were also dragging away the bodies of Gill and the scavengers, and chaining up Tsunami. Surprisingly, Tsunami wasn't fighting back. I guess she's too angry to even bother. I would be too, if I were her.

       Meanwhile, the entire arena was quiet, which did wonders for her headache. Glow looked up at the queen, who was smiling at her maniacally. It was like that look she had given her when Horizon was killed. Possessive, controlling, and...proud? Was the SkyWing queen proud of Glow? Somehow Glow felt like earning the pride of the evil queen of the SkyWings was really not a good thing for her.

       "As you all know," Scarlet announced, her voice regal and commanding...in a childish sort of way...as if a cloud of NightWings didn't just steal her toy. "Yesterday, my champion, Peril, offered to stand for the accused prisoner, Kestrel, in a Champion's Shield. She will now fight a dragon of my choosing, and if she wins, Kestrel goes free. If she loses – then I suppose I'll have to get a new champion." Glow really didn't like the way Scarlet talked about the disposability of Peril. Scarlet frowned, as if expecting a reaction from the crowd she didn't get. "Oh, right. You think Peril can't lose. Well, it so happens that we have a special guest here today – a dragon whose scales are impervious to fire." Glow felt apprehension, realizing that Glow's suspicions of what the queen's plan was were correct. "And, to top it off, a special surprise – I'll add in an extra opponent; that SkyWing in the arena right now, Peril's friend who stood up for her the other day with such a moving speech. It'll be a three-way free-for-all." Scarlet smiled her sick twisted grin directly at Glow's terrified, broken form. "Isn't that just thrilling?"

       Glow knew exactly what she was doing. She was going to force Peril to choose between her friends and her mother. Even then, what if Clay decided to kill Peril? Glow would have to fight Clay.

       But...maybe Peril deserved to win. Maybe Glow should let her win, and both her and her mother would be safe. But then, would Peril kill Clay? Or would there be a stalemate?

       No. Glow thought. Why would Scarlet ever honour her promise to Peril? She wouldn't. I need to do this. Glow caught a glimpse of Clay's distraught face as he was pulled off the balcony down the tunnel. I have to save them both. No matter what it takes.