Clay was tired, his legs were starting to get weak from their slow and long escape. The weird and awkward deployment continued for hours after they left. Even when the palace was out of sight, the dragons were still actively searching for them, more than once the group of friends had to hide in the mud or under the shadow of the trees.

This had been the longest and most painful trip Clay had ever done in his life, even though it was also kind of his first too. But carrying a dragon and a scavenger all day on his back had required all the muscles of his tired body.

They had continued to walk even when the Sun had set to make sure they were safe, they wouldn't allow themselves to be caught again, especially if it was Burn who got to choose their fate.

This is why it was such a relief when they finally stopped for the night. They had found a small enclosed space near the river where the trees were close enough to form a wall of leaves that would be able to shield them from the view of anyone.

Sunny walked off his back, and he immediately felt ten times lighter, Tsunami raised back to the shore and Glory's scales shifted back to their usual green and blue colours. The scavenger, Ash-lee if he remembered right, slid down Sunny's wing and reached the ground in a stomp. The small being staggered to the river and washed its hands and its dirty face in the clear water.

Sunny plunged in the stream, and soon, her scales were back to be as shiny as before.

They scattered around the area, and Clay lay on the grass to rest his sore body. Eventually, they spread to find some food.

Clay tried to hunt in the open field nearby but failed miserably to catch two rabbits and a coyote. He ended up catching a wild pig, to which he quickly sliced its throat and brought it back to share with the others.

When he came back, Sunny helped him drag the carcass. "Tsunami caught some fish too." She said. "And I dug up these awesome wild carrots but nobody else wants to eat them. Except for the scavenger."

"Carrots ?" Clay said, wrinkling his snout. "Who would it those on purpose ?"

"I like them." Sunny said. "And these are all earthy and crunchy. I bet you'd like them if you tried them, Ashley did."

"Nope." Clay said. "We're free now. I'm only going to eat what I want to eat from now on."

Sunny walked away and bit into the carrots with a crunch, she looked at the sky, and so did Clay. Despite the darkness, they could see dragons hovering above the faraway mountains, still searching for them. And they probably wouldn't stop anytime soon.

"Why does she want to kill us ?" Sunny asked. "We haven't done anything to her."

"She doesn't trust prophecies." The scavenger said. "Especially yours. It states that two of the three sisters will die, but doesn't precise who. To her, it doesn't advantage her in any way, it is nothing but a vague statement that anyone could have come up with. So she'd rather fight this war the way she wants to do it and get rid of anything that could contradict her."

"So when we pick who wins, it definitely won't be her." Sunny said with a shiver.

"Maybe Blaze." Tsunami said, she ripped some meat and swallowed it at once. "Starflight says she's dumb, but at least the Sandwings like her."

"I like the sound of Blister." Glory spoke. "There's nothing wrong with a smart queen. Not that I get a say in anything."

"Blister isn't just smart though." Tsunami continued. "If we believe the scrolls and everything the guardians had told us, she's cunning and manipulative and doesn't care what she has to do to become queen. Even if it means destroying the other tribes and the rest of the world along the way."

The dragonets fell silent, considering their options. Clay went thoughtful, his experience with Burn was certainly not very selling of her personality, but it was impossible to come up with a solution just now. What to do when the three options are the bad ones ? Could they find a fourth ? And hopefully make everyone happy along the way ? But who would listen to them anyway, they were just dragonets that didn't get to experience the war themselves.

"I think we need to address the elephant in the room." Glory suddenly said.

Clay looked at her. "An elephant ? where ?" He looked around him, there was nothing but trees and grass.

"Yeah, that would be right." Tsunami said, her face taking a fiercer look.

Sunny and Clay both stared at each other without understanding.

"How do you know so much ?" Glory pointed an imperial claw at the Scavenger. "And what do you know about the prophecy ?"

Clay looked at the small creature that just finished eating its carrot.

Oh yeah, that's true, there is this too.

The Scavenger sighed and stood up. "Well, I guess it's about time-" It walked to the pig's carcass and easily sliced a chunk of it with its claw. It turned around and held the meat to Clay. "Hum, could you cook it ? Please ? Just not too much."

Clay raised an eyebrow, feeling odd. "Erm... yeah- sure." He caught the meat in his talons and started blasting a small fire around it. He felt blood dripping down his arm as he did so, there was an awkward moment as he heated the piece while everyone was visibly waiting for the Scavenger to explain itself.

"Here." Once done, he gave it back to the two-legged creature standing in front of him. "It's... Ash- Lee ? Right ?"

"Yes, Ashley, my name is Ashley." The scavenger said, quickly dropping the heated meat on a stone and shaking its hand.

"So." Tsunami started. "First thing first, how can you talk ?"

"I recall he said it was magic, best bet is that he has been animus touched to be able to talk." Glory said.

Clay's mouth went agape, animus touched ? But didn't animus dragons had disappeared ?

"Yes pretty much." Ashley answered. "I believe it was done by a Sandwing named Boa."

"A Sandwing animus ?" Tsunami thought loudly. "If that is true, shouldn't they be involved in the war ?"

Clay said noting, he wasn't really sure of what animus dragons were capable of, to be fair, he didn't really ever listen in history class, Webs was awfully boring, and it always made him hungry. But from what he had understood, their magic was very powerful, a bit too much to his liking.

"But if they did, the war would have ended already, their power is undeniably strong." Glory said in a cold tone. "But on another hand, if they exist and decide not to intervene, then it is for the best. I don't trust those kind of powers."

Clay agreed with this, if a dragon could be so powerful, they would have the lives of so many dragons in their claws, all it could take was for this power to land in the wrong talons. He shuddered, this was not a reassuring thought at all. He looked at the Scavenger and saw it bite almost angrily on the meat he had in his hand, Ashley ripped the piece with his teeth, drips of blood splattered as he swallowed his food like there was no tomorrow.

"Ew..." Tsunami eventually said after a moment of staring, Ashley stared back at her with what Clay assumed was a fierce look.

"What ?" He asked harshly. "I haven't eaten in days."

Now that was certainly something Clay could understand, the part of being hungry of course, because he couldn't fathom how it could be possible to survive without eating for such a long time, he hardly could hold himself for a few hours.

And like emphasize his saying, Clay heard a resonating growl coming from the Scavenger. Clay immediately got more hungry and took another bite of the pig.

Glory eyed Ashley with a suspicious glance. "So, you seem awfully aware of everything that has been happening, explain yourself."

"Well." the Scavenger started. "I'm going to need you to be a bit more precise in your question, a lot of things happened if you couldn't tell."

Glory rolled her eyes and sighed. "When I was about to spit venom on Gill, during Tsunami's fight." She narrowed her eyes. "How did you know she would win ? And how did you even know I had venom in the first place ?"

Clay saw Tsunami's face immediately tense up at the mention of the dehydrated Seawing, she looked at Ashley with anguish on her face.

"The answer to your first question is simple, I shared a cell with him just the day before the fight."

Glory gave him a doubtful look. "Sharing the cell with a starving dragon and not ending up eaten ?"

"That's because I gave him water, I guess it gave him enough of a reason not to eat me."

Tsunami looked relieved for a brief moment hearing this, Clay guessed that hearing that the Seawing eventually got some water made his fate less horrible. He looked at Ashley, the Scavenger looked pretty confident, he wondered how a prey could feel so comfortable surrounded by four of its most dangerous predators.

"I don't think that really changed anything though." Tsunami muttered, looking at the ground. "That dragon still recklessly tried to kill me."

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"That's not true." Tsunami raised her head and her surprised glance met the Scavenger's eyes. "You were on the ground so you couldn't see what happened, he never tried to land a blow that could have seriously wounded you."

Tsunami's mouth went agape, she closed it and opened it multiple times. "B- but..."

"He's right." Clay realized. "I was on the balcony too, I saw it. At first, I thought he was trying to play with you or make the fight longer, then I believed maybe he was just too mad to even know what he was doing."

Tsunami's eyes widened more and more, her face was now showing distress.

"Then, when he pinned you to the ground, I think, maybe, he was judging you. Somehow, he looked much more alive after that." Clay finished.

"So- I murdered a dragon... that didn't really want to kill me ?"

Sunny walked forward and placed her talons on Tsunami's. "It was awful, Tsunami, you couldn't know, don't blame yourself."

"Who was he ?" The Seawing weakly asked.

Clay turned his head toward the Scavenger, doubting he could have the answer, to his surprise, he found him to look suddenly much less comfortable. Sunny brushed her wings with Tsunami to comfort her, but it got no reaction.

"Was he important ?" Tsunami asked.

There was a pause, only the noise of a bird flapping its wings nearby breaking the silence.

"Yes." The Scavenger cautiously added. Tsunami gulped.

Despite the darkness, Clay could tell from her that his friend was going through dozens of scenarios in her head, probably each worse than the previous one. He looked down at his talons, feeling useless, he didn't know how to help her. Sure, he would give his life to save his friends if he had to, but he never really knew what to say to console them.

"How- how important ?"

The Scavenger hesitated, despite being one of the few he had ever seen, Clay could tell that Ashley was trying to search for the best words for the situation. That could only mean one thing, he knew something they didn't, and whatever he would say, they would probably not like it.

"Come on, surely he couldn't be more than a general or something like that, right ?" Sunny said in a hopeful tone, trying to comfort her friend.

Ashley looked at Sunny, then Tsunami. Clay met Glory's glance, he saw a face he couldn't agree more with. I don't like where this is going.

"I'm sorry." Ashley said. "Gill wa- is, the king of the Seawings."

There was silence.

Tsunami blinked multiple times, processing the information.

Then...

"NO !" Tsunami shouted. "YOU'RE LYING !"

Clay's mind emptied, then, the revelation struck him like a boulder. The Seawing Tsunami had fought in the arena, and crushed the head on the ground, was the Seawing queen's husband. Sunny's eyes went from shocked to concerned, then shocked again.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE ! IT CAN'T BE !" Tsunami took a step forward the Scavenger, almost furiously. Clay looked up to the sky, scared they might alert a patrol, but didn't see anyone else than themselves.

"I'm not lying, I couldn't even." Ashley said in a defensive tone, he took multiple steps back, probably scared of what Tsunami might do.

"Oh Tsunami..." Sunny tried to reach her with her talons, but she escaped them as soon as they came in touch.

"No !" Tsunami cried. "Leave me alone !" Before Clay could do anything, Tsunami ran off through the trees.

"Tsunami wait !" Sunny raced behind her, trying to catch up. She disappeared behind the trees as well.

Silence fell on their camp, and Clay looked awkwardly around him, unsure of what to do.

"Well done Scavenger." Glory said in a cold voice. "This is really going to help us."

"So it would have been better if I hid it from her then ? And let her learn about it from someone else when it might not be the moment for it ?" Glory looked back at him without saying a word. "That's something she deserves to know, she would have learned it from her mother eventually if it wasn't for me." He responded harshly.

"Wait-" Clay interrupted. "If her mother is the queen, and Gill is the king, then-"

"Yes, Clay." Glory sighed. "That means Gill is her father."

"But- How-" His eyes laid on the Scavenger, suspicion rising in his mind. "How do you know all this ?"

"Finally a smart question." Glory looked back at Ashley. "While Sunny gets our friend back, this is something I would like to have an answer on."

The scavenger faltered to his rock again, once he reached it, he sat and laid his head back against it, looking tired.

"For the second question you had before, I knew about your venom simply because it has always been a thing." Glory tilted her head, curious. "Rainwings Have had venom for as long as I can recall. So reality is that anyone could know that."

Glory looked somewhat disappointed by this statement, as if she had rather wanted that her venom was more hers than this.

"What about us then ?" She asked.

"Who ?"

"Us, what do you know about the prophecy and how ?" Glory asked in an eager tone.

"Well, you see." The scavenger made a motion with his hands, like to mime something. "She had that enchanted scroll that would answer all your questions, and it told me about the future. For some reason, it focused mainly on you five."

Clay's eyes widened, he took an awkward step forward, incredulous. "You know the future ? Our future ???"

Glory raised an eyebrow, doubtful.

"Not exactly." The Scavenger responded. "I think- I know what could happen, but not what will happen for sure."

"What do you mean ?" Glory asked in a more cautious tone, she seemed much more careful with her questions, which wasn't surprising considering how it went with Tsunami.

"Well." Ashley continued. "It was written Tsunami would snap Gill's neck, which she didn't. So it's not written in stone."

"That is... interesting." Glory looked thoughtful, and not less concerned.

"So you know some things, right ?" Clay asked. "How far do you know ?" Clay was growing anxious, if a Scavenger could know such things, how much could someone else ? And what could they do with that knowledge ? Could he and his friends even trust this Scavenger ?

"I know you will fulfil the prophecy." Clay saw Glory roll her eyes to the sky. "All five of you." Ashley added, like if he saw that too.

He felt a mixture of anxiety and relief at the same time, being reminded of the heavy burden that laid on the shoulders of him and his friends, but hearing someone outright tell them that they would manage to do it, instead of hoping for it, was... new.

"How do we do that ?" Clay almost jumped. "Can you help us ?"

"I- I don't think I should tell you everything I know. If every story I have read is right, telling people what will happen to them is the best way for it never to happen."

"I can see where you are going with this, but you can't just tell us that and expect us not to ask questions. For all sake, you might even be lying for the whole line just to try to get to us." Glory said, showing her teeth to the Scavenger.

"I'm not lying, even if I wanted to, that would be straight-up stupid." Ashley argued.

"Prove it."

"It's- a hard thing to do."

"You owe us that."

"Fair enough."

There was an awkward silence, and Clay looked from one to the other, not knowing what to expect, he took another bite of the pig.

The Scavenger rose up between the two dragons. "I know Clay still feels bad about trying to crack your eggs when you all hatched." Clay looked at the pig's carcass, feeling guilty. "yet, the intention was never to hurt any of you, but to help you hatch, just like if you were his siblings."

Clay's eyes widened, could it be true ? That he was never that 'monster' Kestrel had wanted him to be ?

Glory rolled her eyes. "Well of course Clay never tried to harm us, we all know that."

"Wait really ?" Clay asked his friend.

"Of course you melon head ! Do you really believe we think you wanted to hurt us ?" She aggressively responded, he took a step back, slightly taken aback by the sudden answer.

"I- Well... I did, I think. I'm not sure-" He glanced at the ground, ashamed.

Glory huffed. "Talk about a mud brain."

Clay looked at her, why was she so aggressive ? He tried to understand why she acted so upset with him since they left the palace, was it because of him ? What did he do ?

Glory looked back at Ashley. "Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, for now. But that doesn't mean I trust you."

"Alright, thank you." He responded.

Clay heard the rustling of leaves behind him and turned around to see Sunny peak through the foliage. She walked into the camp with a sad expression in her eyes. He and Glory both looked at her with a questioning look.

"She will take some rest alone, but she's staying nearby." She said in a soft tone.

Glory nodded in acknowledgement. "Good, we don't want to be separated from another of our friends." She eyed Ashley

Sunny's golden scales reflected the moonlight, her expression was worried. "They will bring Starflight back, right ?"

"Yes, when we will be near the Delta." Ashley said to her. Sunny sighed with relief, then looked up to the scavenger.

"How can you be so sure of that ?"

"Our friend right here apparently knows our future." Glory casually said.

Sunny opened her mouth and closed it again, her eyes lit up and she walked to Ashley almost excitedly.

"Is that true ? Does that mean you know how we are supposed to fulfil the prophecy ?" She asked.

"There is no right way to do that, nor is it predetermined." Sunny's face took a disappointed look. "But I know a few steps you're going to need to take for your journey." Ashley raised one of his small fingers, like to emphasize his words.

"But we still manage to do it, right ?" Sunny asked, full of hope.

The scavenger looked at her for long seconds, for a moment, he almost looked... sad ? "From what I know, yes."

Sunny relaxed and sat in front of him, studying the creature despite the dim light of the night. Glory yawned loudly and her scales shifted colors for a brief instant, Clay took notice of how tired he felt too. He was barely standing on his feet, the whole travelling session had completely used his body and he needed some rest. He wanted more answers, but maybe those could wait until tomorrow. Plus, they still weren't comfortably far from the Sky Kingdom to his liking either.

"Is there- anything more you want to know ?" Ashley asked.

"I think we could do with some sleep." Sunny looked at her two friends with a meaningful glance.

Clay looked around, everyone looked completely worn off. Sunny's eyes were tired, Glory was already finding a place to lay down, and Ashley looked like he could fall any moment. Now looking more at the Scavenger, Clay noticed one of his arms being wrapped in fabric and several bruises on the exposed parts of his skin. A whole side of his face looked like it had swollen and was turning red, maybe even purple ? That was probably concerning, but he didn't really know Scavenger anatomy.

He couldn't help but wonder what happened to the Scavenger, he was pretty sure he was in this state since he saw it back in the arena, but he wasn't like that when he met him for the first time at the entrance of their cave.

Clay remembered Ashley was already there when they had been brought to the arena, and he knew there had been a fight before Tsunami's one. Did Scarlet have Ashley fight in the arena right before them ?

Clay remembered the Sandwing corpse in the middle of the stadium, he also thought about how he nearly threw up at the gruesome sight of the body.

Did the Scavenger fight the dragon ? And won ? Was it what happened ?

Clay fanned out on the ground, exhausted. "How could such a fragile creature take a dragon on a fight ?" He wondered.

He opened his eyes and looked at Ashley, the Scavenger was lying down on the ground, and putting its bag under its head to use it like a pillow. From his point of view, he didn't look particularly threatening, actually, he looked rather harmless.

But again, Clay didn't know that much about Scavengers, except for the fact that they were weird and rarely made sense. Also, they only knew about one occurrence of a scavenger killing a dragon, which was twenty years ago, when the Sandwing queen died.

Twenty years ago, when the Sandwing queen was killed by a Scavenger. Clay had to think twice, he looked again, and a shivering thought formed in his head.

Could Ashley be the Scavenger that killed Queen Oasis ?