"Disappointing." Scarlet said as the crowd exploded into loud cheers.

"Catastrophic." Burn added. "Look, the idiots love her now."

Dragons were leaning above the walls of the arena, throwing small jewels at Tsunami with excited faces. A couple of jewels bounced off her scales as she let go of Gill's head and stepped back from his limp body.

Ashley didn't what to think, sure, she didn't snap his neck, but it still looked like a killing blow. And Gill didn't look particularly alive at the moment.

Tsunami gave the audience a disgusted look, but that didn't remotely stop them.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Scarlet said, she rubbed her front talons together. "But now, it's time for the Nightwing ! My hatching-day present to me !"

Ashley didn't have to turn around to see the terrorized eyes of the dragon, he knew Starflight enough.

"Wait !" He heard Clay shout. "Let me fight for him instead !"

"These dragonets." Scarlet said. "Constantly pushing and shoving to save each other. It's just the weirdest thing." She made a sign to a guard, who hauled Starflight into the tunnel and conducted him to the arena.

Ashley saw Clay push on his chains, but a guard quickly pulled him back by grabbing his horns with a single talon, he saw the Mudwing wince with pain.

"You're not spoiling this for me, Mudwing." Scarlet continued. "I've been dying to see the Nightwing fight since I caught him. He's so very sparkly and good-looking. I think once he's dead I'll cut off his wings and hang them on my throne room walls. Wouldn't that be magnificent and thrilling ? All those silver scales sparkling like diamonds against obsidian. I love it."

Ashley couldn't help but grimace at the thought of it, he saw the horrified look on Clay's face. He also felt the tree shiver by Glory tensing, she was not smiling at all. Even with the eyes closed, she looked ready to bite his head off with the snap of a finger.

He heard Burn growl a mutter. "This is a frivolous place."

Scarlet turned to face her. "Careful with what you say of your allies." She said. "Remember you need us."

Burn shifted her wings with an uncomfortable look, but didn't say another word.

Ashley looked back the the ground of the arena, Tsunami hadn't been chained up back, and was looking around with concerned eyes now. She was still standing near the very dead-looking Gill, and a smell of dead corpse was starting to assault his nose. The corpse of his ex-opponent was still lying on the ground of the arena, the scales of the deceased Sandwing looking even paler in the large pond of blood that was still growing on the sand. This would be hard to clean without a doubt.

Starflight was shoved in the arena towards Tsunami. Ashley watched them look at each other from afar with an empty mind. Making the two friends fight would never be anything else than a hopeless dream for the Skywing queen, but he did notice a glimpse of uncertainty in the Nightwing's eyes.

"I'm sure you all heard about this Nightwing prisoner we managed to catch a few days ago." Vermilion shouted to the stadium from a ledge on the opposite side of the balcony. "Is he the dragonnet of the prophecy ? Let's see what happens when two of them have to fight each other. Tsunami of the Seawings and Starflight of the Nightwings ! Claws up, teeth ready ! Fight !"

The two dragonets continued to stare at each other, Tsunami's sides were slowly heaving, she was still panting from her fight and was covered by blood on her talons.

Ashley nearly jumped up, but noticed she had walked in the Sandwing's blood, it wasn't Gill's, or at least most of it wasn't. He looked at the dragon, the Seawing king was still unmoving, and there was splatter of blood on the ground, but nothing that was as worrying as the yellow corpse further away. Which was in all honestly not a hard feat, seeing how gruesome the sight was. But still, he couldn't see the sides of the Seawing rise, which would have been a sign of respiration.

He was taken away from his thoughts when he heard an "Awwwwww" coming from the audience, he looked down and saw Tsunami and Starflight hugging, both with sad eyes.

"This is getting worse and worse." Burn hissed, showing her annoyed teeth.

"Aren't you going to fight ?" Scarlet called, both dragons didn't even look up. "That's very annoying." She added. "Come on, you've been stuck with each other for years. You must be ready to kill her Nightwing. Doesn't she drive you mad ?"

Ashley laughed internally. I think she does, but you never had any such friend to be able to understand it, did you ?

"No ?" Scarlet leaned forward. "Oh fine, be the worst gladiators ever. Vermilion ! Release the scavengers !"

Vermilion took off, and a huge wooden cage came rolling from the tunnel. It was the same cage Ashley had been put in the first time he got caught. The cage came to a stop and a whole side of it fell to the ground, releasing the four humans inside of it to the arena.

From the cage, Ashley saw the four persons bolt outside, but this time armed with swords, he could also see that one of them had been given a round shield.

"Scavengers ? To kill the dragonets of prophecy ? Are you mad ?" Burn nearly cried.

"Well, it only took one to kill your mother." Scarlet flatly observed. Burn's head whipped around, and her tail arched toward the Skywing.

"Oh calm down." Scarlet said. "It'll be fun. I've got more things waiting in the wings to kill them if this doesn't work. This is the only Nightwing I'll probably ever get in my arena, and I want to see him fight everything."

Ashley tried to make himself the smallest possible, but Scarlet's eyes fell on him anyway.

"Oh yeah, and that includes you too. I nearly forgot." Burn's eyes looked up in annoyance until they heard fast stomps coming from behind. The Skywing guard sent earlier came back and got into a stance in front of Scarlet.

"We found drips of water on the ground of the cell, it appears someone gave the Seawing prisoner something to drink. The only possibility we know of is the scavenger that had been brought yesterday."

Ashley felt each word pierce through his skin, and his teeth gritted more and more as the guard shared those facts. Scarlet's intense gaze locked with Ashley's, and his heart sank.

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"Well, ain't that interesting ?" She said in a susurrating voice. "Guess we got it sorted then." She looked much more intimidating now, her face turned into a smile, but her eyes showed a dreadful annoyance.

"Someone get that scavenger on the ground too, I've had enough of him." She finished, and the closest standing guard leaned to catch Ashley.

This time, they didn't bother being gentle though, the dragon caught him with his strong claws as he tried to walk away from his grasp. He didn't stop when Ashley asked them not to do it, nor when he screamed with pain due to the claws squeezing his arm. They just flew right down the balcony, and he was dropped on the floor.

Ashley heavily landed on his feet, and the impact made his whole body shake. He tripped on the ground and faceplanted in the sand, which muffled his shout as his broken arm hurt the floor.

He looked up and saw Cardinal, Cramberry and Rowan rushing at Tsunami on the other side of the arena. Tears of pain blurred his sight, he blinked a few times and finally managed to see properly, only to be met by Cardinal flying over his head and colliding with the audience behind him. Multiple dragons jumped on the crushed corpse and tore its limbs apart to get a piece of him to eat. Ashley nearly threw up at this horrifying sight.

He started crawling towards Gill which was lying nearby, his face looking in the opposite direction. He dragged himself with one arm and finally made it to the green Seawing.

"Gill !" He cried. "Wake the fuck up ! Please tell me you're not damn dead !" He tried to poke him with his hand but obtained no results.

"Ashley ! That's you !" He turned himself around and saw Rowan backing up to him, Cramberry was ducking Tsunami's attacks and running away from her. He also saw Teheron being pushed back from the tunnel by three Skywings armed with spears.

"How did you get- Oh god what happened to you !" She saw his injured body and ran to him, she kneeled at his side and looked at him with concerned eyes. She tried to inspect his bruised face but backed her hand when she saw him wince at her touch.

She looked behind, Tsunami was backing near Starflight, and both Cramberry and Teheron were keeping their distance from the dragons, while still searching for an opportunity to attack.

She looked at him again. "What happened ?" Ashley pointed at Coyote's corpse without a word, she turned to look at it and stared for a moment, when she got back to him, her eyes had completely widened. "You killed it ???"

"Yes." Ashley simply answered.

She blinked for a few seconds but stood herself. She opened and closed her mouth multiple times, but her name was shouted by Cramberry from behind.

"Rowan ! What are you doing ? It's not the time to examine dragon corpses !"

"Right." She got up and gave her hand to Ashley, who used it to stumble up.

He looked up and saw Cramberry jump over one of Tsunami's attacks, Teheron was trying to hit Tsunami with his sword, but he was very wobbly with it. Ashley took a few steps and found his knife still lying on the ground.

"How are we supposed to kill those ?" Rowan asks from behind.

"Simple we don't, those two are not the enemy." Ashley stated as he saw Teheron be thrown away from Starflight by Tsunami.

"WHAT ?" Cramberry cried as she ran to help Teheron. "What do you mean not the enemy ?!"

Ashley saw Tsunami lean on Starflight to examine a newly formed cut on his forearm. She then looked in their direction with fury in her eyes, and Ashley shivered. "Alright, maybe she won't be so friendly with us now."

"Of course it won't." Teheron raised his eyes on Ashley. "YOU !"

He jumped on Ashley and swung his sword at him, Ashley threw himself back and raised his knife quickly, the two weapons bounced in a resonating clang and Ashley stumbled on his two feet.

"Hey ! It's not the time for this !" Cramberry looked at the two dragons, they were still away from them. "We're fighting DRAGONS"

"This traitor made a pact with them !" Teheron shouted back and pointed at Ashley, the two women quickly turned to him with bewildered eyes.

"What-" Cramberry started. "Is that-"

"No it's not !" Ashley cried. "I WOULDN'T BE- aaarg" He gritted his teeth as his arm hurt him again. Teheron took advantage of this, and swung again, this time Ashley wouldn't have time to escape the impact.

But he didn't feel one, Rowan had pushed him and he missed his attack, when he raised his eyes again, she was crossing blades with Teheron.

"Now, I was starting to get bored." Ashley heard coming from Scarlet's balcony, he saw her leaning slightly closer, to get a better sight at the newly started fight. "This day is growing more and more unusual."

"Great, so nice to hear." Burn responded sarcastically, but she also seemed to move to see what was happening.

The fight between Rowan and Teheron had fully escalated, and she was going full aggressive mode on him, not leaving him time to counterattack, she truly knew how to use a sword, and he was clearly struggling against her. But Teheron had a shield and was able to ward off her hits.

Teheron tried to strike back, but whatever he tried, Rowan ducked it or pared it with her blade. But she couldn't get the upper hand on him enough to have a hit on him. Now, most dragons were staring at the scene with startled eyes. Starflight was watching intensely with frowning eyes, and Tsunami looked ready to jump forward and jump to bite a head off if anyone came close.

Rowan made a wide arc to strike Teheron but overshot him as he dodged the attack, and he finally managed to get a hit on her with his shield, which sent her back.

Ashley nearly fell as Cramberry released him and walked in front of the man. Teheron frowned, then sighed. "So that is how it is then ? I knew I couldn't trust any of you." And he bolted forward without waiting.

Ashley reluctantly grasped his gun and put his finger over the safety. But he saw Cramberry completely dodge Teheron's attack, and land a heavy blow on him, which struck his shield again, but this time, the impact broke it, and it only left him with a piece of wood that he threw away.

A faint "woa" came from the dragon audience all around him, which took Ashley off guard as he had forgotten where he was for the whole interaction again. He saw Starflight and Tsunami awkwardly look at each other.

"You have all lost your mind !" Teheron shouted at the humans, as he was now backing under the blows of Cramberry's sword.

"Well, maybe we did, but you didn't have one since the start it seems." Rowan said behind his back, before piercing him through the chest with her blade.

Ashley retained his breath and saw the man slowly slip on the blade, on fall on the floor in a loud "stomp" that resonated in his ears.

The two women looked at each other to see if they were alright, then turned to face Tsunami, wary of her presence. It prompted the Seawing into showing her teeth, and the two quickly stepped away.

Ashley raised his working arm when Rowan started to get back into running to the dragon, stopping her from doing so, he was still holding his gun in his hand. "Don't attack them, and maybe they won't kill us."

Cramberry was looking at Teheron's dead body with disgust. "Not to question you like him, but what makes you so sure ?" Rowan, for her part, was still giving Tsunami suspicious looks.

"Let's just say- that I know a few things about dragons."

"You really are peculiar are you." Rowan stated.

"I guess I am." Ashley answered, his eyes met up with Starflight's, who held Tsunami when she took a step forward and shook his head at her. She gave him a questioning look at first, but seemed to understand the assignment, and she sat down, much to the human's amazement and relief. Rowan gave Ashley a hopeful glance.

"tssk, I hate it." Burn's sharp voice said.

"You're right." Scarlet said. "This isn't nearly as thrilling as I thought it would be. Let's go straight to the Icewings !" She shouted at Vermilion.

The elder dragon nodded and signalled to the Skywing guards, and several of them from all across the stadium took off and scattered towards the pillars. Everyone on the ground of the arena looked up. Ashley saw around eight Icewings about to be unchained.

Burn hissed. "Finally a smart idea."

"Let me fight too !" Ashley heard, it was Clay's voice. "Put me in there with them !"

He facepalmed, Clay really was going to kill himself that way. But as soon as he finished his sentence, a huge shadow blocked the Sun above them. The three humans looked up with panic, locating what seemed to be a black cloud. From it a small dot separated and flew towards the palace, they soon saw what it really was.

"Night dragon !" Rowan shouted.

"Morrowseer." Ashley muttered, which resulted in Cramberry glancing at him.

The dragon stretched his wings and landed loudly on the ground. As he did, every other one took a step back.

A hush fell over the arena, and the Skywing guards that were going for the Icewings all stopped to hover in the sky, every dragon was now looking at the Nightwing. Rowan and Cramberry both ran and hid behind Gill's body nearby.

Ashley felt smaller than he ever had been, the dragon was nothing more than a gigantic shadow, and he seemed to be filling the whole arena with his size. He was stunned, but couldn't move a finger, only stare at the black figure that was taking his whole view.

Morrowseer pointed a claw at Starflight.

"This dragonet is ours." He said plainly.