Escaping Peril

by Tui T. Sutherland

  That’s it, Ruby thought. This dragonet looked like she was burning from the inside. Smoke was even rising from her scales.

  Over Ruby’s head, Hawk and Vermilion exchanged looks.

  “Did you know about this?” Hawk growled softly under the hubbub of voices whispering all around them. “I thought it was dead. It should be dead.”

  “Don’t question the queen,” Vermilion muttered back, keeping his eyes forward and his mouth tensely still.

  “It’s an abomination,” Hawk hissed. “SkyWing law commands us to kill creatures like that at hatching.”

  Ruby had a dim memory now of something that had happened over a year ago — an egg hatching with twins inside, the mother trying to escape with both of them. The palace had been in an uproar for weeks. But Ruby got only tiny scraps of gossip, usually through Tourmaline if she was lucky.

  She’d thought they were all dead … the twins and the mother.

  Could this be the one with too much fire?

  The strange dragonet squeaked and tried to scramble up to the top of the rock wall, her tiny wings flapping hopefully.

  Scarlet seized a long metal scepter propped beside her throne and jabbed the center of it into the dragonet’s chest.

  “Down,” she snarled.

  The dragonet fell back with a yelp. As Scarlet withdrew the scepter, Ruby could see that the round tip of it had a blobby melted spot where it had touched the dragonet’s scales. A worrying molten metal smell joined the heat in the room.

  “Your Majesty,” said a squat rust-colored dragon near the front of the crowd. He was one of the oldest dragons in the palace and had served as an advisor to Ruby’s grandmother when she was queen. Whenever he saw Ruby, he invariably made an odd clicking sound with his teeth, commented on how peculiarly long her neck was, and told her that the secret of long life was eating a goat kidney every day. And yet she could never remember his name. She and Tourmaline called him Kidney Breath.

  “Ahem,” said Kidney Breath importantly, waiting for the murmurs to die down and for everyone to look at him. “Your Majesty, please assure us that this is not what it looks like.”

  Queen Scarlet gave him a glittering, all-teeth smile. “Does it look like I have the most fabulously dangerous new toy? Because that’s exactly what this is.” She flourished one of her wings in the dragonet’s direction. “Behold, my new and future champion!”

  The dragonet poked her head out again, regarding them all with those sinister blue eyes. She glanced up at Scarlet’s wing overhead and reached for it, but the queen kept it well out of her grasp.

  “Your Majesty is the wisest of all dragons,” said Kidney Breath. “Your every thought is genius and all your decisions are perfect in every way. But … are you sure this is safe? Keeping that … that monster alive?”

  “She’s not just any monster,” Scarlet said smugly. “She’s my monster. And she’s so very useful. Here, darling, show them what you can do.” The queen plucked one of the eggs from a guard’s talons and passed it casually to the dragonet.

  At least … she made it look casual, but Ruby could see how carefully Scarlet avoided touching the dragonet’s claws, and how quickly she snatched her talons back.

  The dragonet looked down at the egg, which was almost a quarter of her own size. Her expression was curious and a little delighted, as if no one had ever given her a toy before.

  And then small tremors began to run across the eggshell, and the translucent whiteness began to fade to gray, and the orange shape inside gave a shudder and then turned black, black as coals, black as dead, burnt husks of trees, before the whole egg went black and no one could see inside anymore.

  A hush fell over the room.

  Nobody spoke. Nobody could speak, Ruby thought. She felt as though she couldn’t even breathe. Like perhaps it would be safer to never breathe again.

  The egg crumbled into a pile of ash in the dragonet’s talons.

  The dragonet stared down at her claws with an unreadable expression. Was she surprised? Pleased with herself? Did she know that with one simple act — by merely holding an egg — she’d managed to terrify every dragon in the room?

  She tilted her head slightly to peer up at the queen, and in that moment Ruby caught a glimpse of something familiar in those weird eyes.

  The dragonet with too much fire was worried that Scarlet would be angry with her.

  It was Burn who finally broke the silence. “Impressive,” she growled. “Now deal with the rest of them, or let me smash them myself.”

  Scarlet reached over with the scepter and knocked down the wall of rocks in the dragonet’s way. “Go touch the rest of the eggs, Peril,” she ordered.

  Peril, Ruby thought. The monster has a name.

  Peril glanced at the eggs, then down at her talons, then back at Queen Scarlet. She looked very small next to the two queens.

  “But —” she said, her voice swallowed by the hot air in the hushed room. “But I burnded it.”

  “You are my champion,” said Queen Scarlet coldly. “You do as I tell you to.”

  Peril hesitated for a moment, looking around at the wall of scales and wings and unfriendly, suspicious eyes around her. She stepped forward, and the guards holding the eggs all quickly placed them on the ground, stumbling out of her way.

  One by one, Peril stopped at each egg and laid her claws on it until the dragonet inside was dead.

  She could do that to anyone, Ruby realized. She can probably kill a full-grown dragon just by touching him. She’s the deadliest weapon Mother has ever found.

  A ripple of horror ricocheted through her scales.

  Is that what happened to Tourmaline?

  She couldn’t unhook her gaze from the murderous dragonet.

  Is my sister now a pile of ashes somewhere?

  As Peril reached the last egg, Ruby finally tore her eyes free and lifted them toward the queens.

  Scarlet was watching Ruby with a satisfied, sinister look. A look that said: “Who would dare challenge me now? You, my dreaming daughter? Go ahead and try. If you even think about it, now you know whose talons will find your throat in the middle of the night.”

  She was right. No one could stop Scarlet now.

  Ruby would never be queen.

  Peril would always be there, the threat lurking behind the throne, the smoking scales that lay in wait for any dragon who showed even a hint of ambition.

  So I won’t, Ruby thought. I won’t dream of the throne. I’ll be obedient, loyal, agreeable, anything she wants me to be. Anything that keeps me alive and as far away from that monster as I can get.

  You win, Mother.

  The dragonet lifted her claws from the last smoking egg and turned to Queen Scarlet with a hungry look in her eyes. Ruby recognized that look, too — the “do you love me now?” look.

  “Excellent,” said Queen Scarlet, flicking her tongue between her teeth. “A thrilling demonstration. Everything I was hoping for. As you say, Queen Burn, so much for that prophecy now, right? Peril, back to your place.”

  I hope you know how to control your new champion, Mother. Because she’s not just a threat to me.

  The crowd of dragons surged back, struggling to stay out of Peril’s path, as the dragonet walked slowly back to the little cage of rocks.

  This dragon could destroy the entire world.

  Deep in a cave in Jade Mountain, the most dangerous dragon in Pyrrhia was hiding.

  Which she was not particularly pleased about.

  “Just until Ruby’s gone,” Peril muttered, pacing. “That’s what he said. Hours ago. He said he’d come get me as soon as it was safe. Ha! As if I should be afraid of her. I’m not afraid of anyone! Three moons, it’s been forever. How long does it take to collect a body?”

  And why should she have to hide anyway? That’s what she wanted to know.

  Yes, she was banished from the Sky Kingdom, but Queen Ruby couldn’t banish her from Jade Mountain, too. Clay had said it himself: this wasn’t the Sky Pa
lace. He’d said, “You have every right to be here.”

  Was that true?

  Did she actually have the right to be anywhere, after everything she’d done?

  But all she wanted was to be with Clay. Near him, around him, breathing the same air and watching the same skies. That wasn’t asking too much. And if it meant she wasn’t hurting anyone anymore, wasn’t that what everyone wanted?

  Maybe not. Maybe Queen Ruby wanted Peril to be miserable and alone.

  Well. Peril hissed a tendril of smoke and marched to the cave entrance, peering out. If any dragon tried to keep her away from Clay, she would melt off their head. Even if that dragon was the new SkyWing queen!

  Unless Clay told me not to, I guess.

  Peril went back to circling the small cave, flicking her wings at the claustrophobic stone walls.

  There had been a moment, months ago, in the chaos of the SkyWing transition, when Peril thought things were going to be different. After she’d helped Clay and the others escape from Scarlet’s arena, she’d flown back to the palace only to find Queen Scarlet and Queen Burn gone and the whole tribe in a state of panic. Who’d be in charge now? What had happened to their invincible queen?

  The relief when Princess Ruby arrived and took over … Peril remembered it clearly, with a wince of pity for her idiotic hopeful former self. Along with everyone else she had thought, A new queen! One who isn’t terrifying! Everything’s going to change!

  It was true: everything had changed. For the better, generally, for everyone but Peril.

  There had been no thank-yous, no celebrations or medals. Idiotic hopeful former self had hoped for them. Idiotic hopeful former self was very stupid.

  In fact, there hadn’t been any acknowledgment at all that Peril had helped the dragonets of destiny defeat Queen Scarlet. I mean, they did most of it, but I did help. Didn’t anyone notice?

  Instead, Ruby’s very first act as queen had been to banish Peril from the Sky Kingdom.

  Peril could still hear her hissing, “I never want to see you again” … and she could still feel the strange, falling vertigo it had given her, as if her wings had been sliced off.

  Until that moment, Ruby had always been — not friendly, exactly — but not hostile, either. Mostly she’d been quiet. She’d stayed out of Peril’s way, nodding politely in the halls or leaving the room when Peril came to talk to Scarlet. She’d never seemed very queenly, to be frank. So where did this imperious, decisive dragon come from?

  “But … why?” Peril had asked, trying to ignore the expressions on the guards that surrounded Ruby. Why did they look so pleased?

  “Because you’re a murderer,” Ruby replied, as if that should have been perfectly self-evident.

  But aren’t we all murderers? Peril had thought. Didn’t we all do terrible things because Queen Scarlet told us to? Can you find me one dragon who defied her? Why am I the only one getting punished for obedience?

  Then she’d looked into Ruby’s eyes and realized it was personal. Ruby actually hated her. Peril had never known that — and even now, she still wasn’t sure why. Hadn’t they both been loyal SkyWing subjects? Hadn’t they both always followed Scarlet’s orders? Couldn’t Ruby, of all dragons, understand everything that Peril had done?

  “Leave now,” Ruby had said. “Or die. Whichever.”

  And how do you plan to make me? Peril had felt fiery rage swelling under her scales. I could kill you right now, as easily as breathing. I could kill everyone in this cave just by spreading my wings.

  She nearly had. She’d really, really wanted to. The only thing that had stopped her was thinking of Clay.

  He said he saw good in her. Which probably meant he didn’t want her setting large groups of dragons on fire every time she got mad.

  He thought she could be more than Queen Scarlet’s pet killer, and so, for him, she would be.

  Well … she would try.

  It was hard, though. Dragons could be awful. Some of them really deserved to be set on fire.

  And she didn’t like being told to sit in a cave for hours, just because the sight of her might make Ruby angry. The SkyWing queen was on her way to Jade Mountain to collect the body of the student who’d died, Carnelian. So, yes, she probably wouldn’t be in a very good mood to begin with. Peril could understand that it would be easier for Clay and his friends if she stayed out of the way, so that Ruby’s visit would go as smoothly as possible.

  But WHY WAS IT TAKING SO LONG?

  Peril paced to the cave entrance again, peering out into the dimly lit tunnel.

  Farther along the tunnel, deeper in the mountain, the faint sounds of splashing and laughter echoed from the underground lake. The SeaWing students had decided the lake was their exclusive clubhouse and were there all the time now. Peril was always careful to avoid them. She avoided all the students as much as she could.

  Everyone here was afraid of her, but no one was careful of her the way they’d been in the Sky Kingdom. Only the SkyWings knew how to steer a wide path around her. The dragons in Scarlet’s palace had been experts at avoiding Peril; wherever she’d gone, empty space opened up around her.

  Here, she had to be the cautious one. She was responsible for staying out of their way. Even though they were terrified of her, the other students kept forgetting she was there.

  But what if she bumped into one of them? What if her tail brushed someone’s wing by accident?

  How would Clay look at her then?

  He said she deserved a second chance … but if she burned one of his students, she knew there wouldn’t be a third.

  Peril’s claws twisted and clenched, thinking of all the dragonets Clay was protecting here. Did he love them more than her? He must — he should — why wouldn’t he? They were innocent symbols of the bright future he always talked about. None of them had murdered — her mind shied away from the numbers — a whole lot of dragons.

  But none of them had saved his life either! And his friends!

  Didn’t matter. They still hated her, those shining friends who stood between her and Clay like blue and green and gold flames, flaring suspiciously whenever she so much as looked at him.

  Down on the sands of Burn’s stronghold, after she’d saved him, under the eyes of all the tribes, Clay had said, “Maybe Peril is our wings of fire.” And for one surreal moment she’d thought, maybe I am — maybe this makes up for everything I’ve done. Maybe by saving Clay, I’ve saved the world.

  Maybe everyone will forgive me now. Maybe everyone will love me now.

  But that wasn’t what had happened.

  After the end of the war, Peril had searched for Queen Scarlet for months, all across the continent. And everywhere she went, dragons fled screaming at the sight of her. Or they fainted. Or they threw spears and rocks at her, along with anything else sharp or pointy or heavy that they could get their talons on. Once she’d been walloped in the face by a dead crocodile, flung from the depths of the MudWing swamps.

  It was strange to realize that things like that could hurt more on the inside of your scales than the outside.

  It was strange to realize that a dragon who couldn’t be hurt on the outside could have so many ragged holes on the inside.

  There! Talons thumping on stone! The rough slither of a tail! Was it him?

  Peril nearly leaped into the corridor — and came within a wing flicker of colliding with a dragon who definitely wasn’t Clay.

  The dark green SeaWing dragonet didn’t scream or faint or stagger back in terror. He simply froze, slamming his eyes closed as though danger would obligingly disappear the moment he couldn’t see it anymore.

  “What are you doing?” Peril yelped, jumping away from him.

  “Um,” he said in a low, rumbly voice. “Walking? In the halls? Back to my cave?” He risked opening one eye to peer at her.

  “Well, that was VERY STUPID of you!” she snapped.

  He thought about that for a moment, then opened both eyes and regarded her peaceably. “Oh
,” he said. “Sorry.”

  What a peculiar dragon. He seemed to have no fire about him at all. That wasn’t a SeaWing thing; Tsunami was a fireball that blazed up and down and sideways at everything that made her mad (which was most things). And her sister, the little SeaWing princess, at least from a distance seemed to be a shower of bright orange sparks on the inside.

  This SeaWing, on the other talon, was a puddle. A fireless puddle, blobbing quietly into the rocks in front of her, not even trying to get away.

  “You’re Peril, aren’t you?” he said. “Queen Scarlet’s … ” He trailed off, perhaps realizing there was no good way to end that sentence. Champion? Weapon? Notorious death monster?

  “Yes,” she hissed. “I’m Queen Scarlet’s notorious death monster.”

  He made an odd hiccupping noise and ducked his head. “Ah, OK. I’ll just … go, then.”

  What would Clay want her to do in this situation? Maybe you’ll make some friends here, he’d said, in that oblivious magical way he had of thinking that any other dragons in the world might have open hearts like his.

  “Who are you?” she asked. Hmmm. That came out more menacing than it sounded in my head. “I mean, who are you?” she tried, adding a Sunnyish cheerful lilt to her voice. Now I sound manic. “I’m not being creepy,” she added hastily. “I’m not, like, putting you on a murder list or anything. I don’t have a murder list! Not a to-be-murdered list, I mean. Wait, no — to be clear, I have no kind of murder list at all. Definitely out of the murdering business, me. Maybe I should stop saying the word murder.”

  “That would be great,” the SeaWing said. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

  “I just did what I was told,” she said in a rush. She couldn’t remember another dragon standing still long enough to hear her say that, not since Ruby had thrown her out of the Sky Palace. “I was doing what my queen told me to do. Isn’t that what everyone does? I can’t help what I’m like — and what she made me do. Can I?”

  Maybe it was that he didn’t look scared. He didn’t look thrilled to be having this conversation, but he hadn’t run screaming yet.

  His green-eyed gaze traveled thoughtfully along her smoking scales, shifted for a moment to his own talons, and then dropped to the ground. “I guess,” he said. “Turtle.”