Escaping Peril

by Tui T. Sutherland

  Peril ran to the opposite edge of the tower. Had he rolled off in his sleep? It was a long, long way down. Wouldn’t he have woken up and cried out? Wouldn’t they have heard him?

  She frantically searched the slick wet rocks and rooftops below for a broken red figure.

  And then, through a break in the fog, she saw a tiny flapping shape struggling in the rain.

  “He can fly!” she cried.

  “That little liar!” Chameleon yelled. “After him!” He leaped from the tower and plummeted toward the dragonet.

  “You know,” Peril called, catching up to him, “I thought I remembered that SkyWing dragonets could fly pretty young. That’s so funny that Scarlet didn’t know that because she avoids dragonets like the plague.” Rain pelted her wings and snout and scales, falling harder and harder every moment.

  “Shut up and catch him!” Chameleon shouted, nearly drowned out by a crack of thunder. “Or we lose the palace and Scarlet kills us both!”

  She wouldn’t dare! Peril thought. Well, all right, she might dare. But she can’t, not if I take off this necklace and use my firescales again!

  The locket thumped against her chest, and Peril realized it must have a scrap of that scroll inside of it. Enchanted to make her normal. She hadn’t seen her father write it — in fact, it had been all ready for her, so he must have written it before they even met.

  Because he loves me. Because he understood what it’s like to be different, and he predicted my wish to be normal.

  There was something, though … something that still felt wrong …

  Cliff looked over his shoulder and saw the two dragons hurtling toward him. With a terrified squeak, he flung himself through the nearest window and disappeared.

  Worse luck, it was a window big enough for a year-old dragonet, but too small for Peril or her father’s SkyWing shape.

  Chameleon roared in frustration. “You know the palace!” he shouted at Peril. “How do we get in there?” He thumped the stone wall with his tail.

  Peril wiped rain from her eyes and looked around. The window was in a covered rampart that led to the central keep of the palace — the keep where the throne room, the Great Hall, and Ruby’s prison were.

  “Come on,” she said, beating her wings. One option was going through the open wall of the throne room, but if Queen Scarlet was in there, things would get ugly fast. A better choice was to fly to the top of the keep and enter through the open roof, like she had done once to rescue Kestrel … she shook her head hard. Who did I do that with? Why is it all fuzzy?

  As they soared up the cliffside, Peril had a dizzying sense of déjà vu — a feeling of wild freedom, terror, and hope that didn’t match the current situation at all. She glanced behind her and realized she was expecting to see someone other than her father.

  Who?

  A moment later they reached the top and dove through the hole into the Great Hall, which was as eerie and deserted as the rest of the palace. Peril saw one or two snouts poke out curiously at the sound of her wingbeats and then vanish in a hurry. A guard stood listlessly by the throne room, but she didn’t even look up as Peril flew by.

  Down at the bottom of the hall, Ruby was trapped below a grate of metal bars, in the lowliest prison Scarlet had been able to come up with, for her least favorite prisoners. I guess someone fixed the grate, Peril thought, remembering her own claws burning through those very bars.

  Two SkyWings stood beside the grate, looking less like guards and more like guardians. They were staring up at the commotion of Peril and Chameleon diving toward them, and so they didn’t see the small red shape that darted into the room from a hall behind them.

  Prince Cliff reached the prison bars before Peril did. He threw himself on top of the grate and reached through, clasping one of his mother’s talons in both of his.

  “Cliff!” Ruby cried. “Get back!”

  And suddenly, a moment before Peril touched down on the stone floor, Ruby came surging out of her cell, flinging aside the crisscrossed bars as if they were nothing.

  As if it wasn’t actually locked.

  Or never really fixed at all.

  That’s it, Peril thought. Ruby wouldn’t have wanted a prison like that anyway. And the SkyWings who locked her in were loyal to her — they only pretended to do it, enough to make Scarlet believe it.

  She isn’t giving up. She’s not the mouse her mother thinks she is.

  What else is Scarlet wrong about?

  The two guards threw their wings open, facing Peril in battle positions, as Ruby cleared the cell in one leap and caught her son up in her arms.

  “I knew you could do it,” she said to him. “You clever, clever, clever little moonbeam.”

  “I’m not a moonbeam!” he protested, snuggling into her chest. “Today I’m a super-secret stealth agent flier hero of the world.”

  “Yes, you are,” she said.

  A deafening roar suddenly shook the entire hall. Peril pressed her talons over her ears, unconsciously trying to make herself as small as possible. This was a familiar roar; a roar that always heralded shouting, scorn, and severe punishments. Queen Scarlet could never hit her, of course, but she’d found plenty of other ways to make Peril’s life miserable.

  The SkyWing queen seemed to arrive from everywhere at once, her flapping orange wings filling Peril’s whole field of vision.

  “NO!” Scarlet shrieked, hurtling past the guards and slamming straight into Ruby and Cliff. The three of them tumbled and crashed into the back wall, and before Ruby could stand up again, Scarlet grabbed her neck and pinned her against the stone. Cliff scrambled under his mother’s wing and she tightened it around him, glaring at Scarlet.

  “You think you’re so smart, pathetic daughter,” Scarlet hissed. “But your love for this dragonet is a weakness. After I kill you, do you want to know what I’m going to do to him? I’m going to make him fear me. I’m going to make him so loyal to me that he’ll forget your name. He’ll obey my every command.”

  “Will not,” Cliff said defiantly.

  Scarlet ignored him. “I’ll use him until he becomes a dragon you wouldn’t recognize. By the time I’m done with him, he’d kill you with his own talons if I tell him to.”

  “Will not,” Cliff said again, sounding both outraged and scared. “Would never!”

  “He’ll be my adorable little weapon,” said Scarlet, “and he’ll forget all about you. I will be his everything.”

  I’m the only one who cares about you.

  No one will ever love you except me.

  You’ll always be a monster to everyone else.

  Scarlet’s words rang louder and louder in Peril’s head. What she was describing — that’s what she did to me.

  She made me obedient. She made me loyal to her. She made me think I had no choice.

  But I do.

  “Stop!” Peril shouted. She stepped forward, and for a moment the guards wavered, as if wondering whether this was the right moment to sacrifice themselves on her burning scales. She stepped forward again, and they parted before her, leaving her a clear path to the tangle of royal family members.

  Queen Scarlet glowered at Peril with narrow yellow eyes. “What did you say?”

  “I won’t let you hurt Cliff,” Peril said. “I won’t let you do any of that to him either. It’s not right. He’s not your toy, and if you can’t earn a dragon’s loyalty by being a good queen, then you don’t deserve it at all.” She reached for the black chain around her neck and saw Scarlet’s eyes widen.

  “No!” Chameleon cried. “Don’t take that off!”

  Three moons. I am under a spell. It hit Peril with the force of a thousand suns. There’s something else in the enchantment. Ruby was right.

  My father betrayed me.

  Peril ripped the necklace over her head and dropped it just as the metal began to sizzle.

  Everything came rushing back.

  Clay Clay Clay Clay, Peril’s heart sang. How could she have forgotten abou
t him? How could any spell do that?

  She looked around at the circle of watching SkyWings, orange and red heads peering over the balconies and wingbeats bringing in more — Ruby and Cliff trapped under Scarlet’s claws — the guards watching her warily …

  Is this what I become without him? I go right back to being a monster?

  She held out her talons. Wisps of smoke were starting to rise from them again.

  The firescales aren’t what make me dangerous. Even without them, I was as bad as ever, because I was willing to follow her.

  Peril lowered her claws and advanced on Scarlet.

  “You stay away from me,” Scarlet hissed. “Get back. Do you hear me? I’m your queen, remember? You are my champion. You do what I tell you to do.”

  “Not anymore,” Peril said. She reached toward the scarred ex-queen and Scarlet leaped off Ruby with a shriek. Her orange wings flailed in the air as she backed away from Peril.

  “Have you ever wondered what it felt like?” Peril said. “What you made me do to all those dragons? Because it’s over now. You are the last dragon I will ever kill.”

  “Wait,” Ruby said suddenly. “Peril, stop.”

  Stop? Scarlet was so close … and Peril finally had the courage to do what she should have done a long time ago … and this was the right moment, with everyone watching to cheer her on …

  But Ruby was her new queen, and if Peril wanted to prove she could be trusted — if she could ever be trusted again — she should start by listening to her.

  She stopped, keeping her wings spread so Scarlet couldn’t escape. “Yes, Your Majesty?” she said to Ruby.

  There was a stunned little pause, dappled with growls and hisses from Scarlet, and then Ruby collected herself.

  “Don’t kill her,” Ruby said. “You shouldn’t have to. This is my fight.” She gently moved Cliff behind her, tucking him back against the wall, and then stood up tall. “Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings, I hereby challenge you to a duel for throne and kingdom.”

  A gasp scattered around the hall like leaves in a windstorm.

  “You don’t have to do that,” said one of the nearby guards, very bravely, Peril thought. It meant he’d be the first one in flames if Scarlet ended up winning. “You are the queen we want, Queen Ruby. Just order us to kill her for you.”

  “Or me,” Peril offered. “Order me to do it.”

  Ruby shook her head. “I want to take my throne the right way, the way I should have done before if I hadn’t been such a coward. I’m going to follow SkyWing tradition, and when I win, no one will be able to question my position anymore.”

  Scarlet chuckled, smoke billowing from her snout. “When you win? How thrillingly hilarious. After all the challengers I’ve killed, you think you stand any chance at all? My mousy daughter who can barely speak in a room with more than two other dragons in it.”

  “Let’s find out,” Ruby said, flexing her claws. “Maybe I’m not who you think I am.”

  Queen Scarlet started to laugh. She laughed and laughed so much that Peril was extremely tempted to set her on fire just to shut her up.

  “Very well,” she cried finally. “I accept your challenge. Come at me, daughter.”

  Peril stepped aside so the two dragons could face each other. Ruby met Peril’s eyes, and something entirely new passed between them.

  “I’ll protect Cliff,” Peril said to her. “No matter what happens.”

  “Thank you,” said Ruby. That was all she needed to say. That was more, Peril suspected, than Scarlet had ever said to either of them.

  “To the arena, then,” Scarlet growled.

  Ruby shook her head. “It’s full of wounded soldiers and healing supplies. Choose somewhere else.”

  Scarlet looked momentarily unsettled, but recovered quickly. She glanced around at the gathering crowd, and Peril wondered if she’d choose to fight right here in the Great Hall. And then maybe Ruby could accidentally throw her right into me and I could accidentally catch her and WHOOSH no more Scarlet …

  Perhaps the same thought occurred to Scarlet, because she nodded at the open roof and said, “Up there.”

  The two SkyWing queens took off first, soaring toward the sky, and then what seemed to be the entire palace lifted off to follow them, dragons jostling for airspace as they competed for a ringside seat at the fight.

  Peril couldn’t fly through a crowd like that, not without seriously hurting someone. She backed up against the wall next to Cliff.

  “Hello,” he said. “I think today I’m-a be a warrior champion and go swish! swish! with my claws and ROARGH with my mouth and save Mommy.”

  “Maybe we should stay down here,” Peril said. She didn’t want poor little Cliff to have to watch his mother die, if everything went wrong and Ruby lost. It probably wouldn’t be the greatest feeling to watch his mother kill his grandmother either, even though he had experienced Scarlet’s evil firsthand.

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Cliff shrieked at her, making her jump. “I want to SEE IT!”

  “Three moons, calm down,” Peril said. “I just don’t want you to get upset and fights can be very, um … upsetting.”

  “I WON’T get upset!” Cliff shouted. “I want! to SEE! MOMMY KILL GRANDMA!”

  Peril had to stifle a giggle. “All right, you bloodthirsty little barbarian,” she said. “Let’s wait until there’s space and up we’ll go.”

  He gave her a sideways look. “You different now?”

  “Yes,” Peril said. “I’m better now.”

  “Not a bad guy?” he said.

  “Well … I hope I’m not a bad guy,” Peril said. “I was under a spell before.”

  “Hmmm,” said Cliff. “A spell?” He scampered over and picked up the necklace. “From this?”

  “Right,” Peril said. She took the necklace and clasped it between her claws, letting it melt into a blackened hunk of metal. “I wasn’t thinking for myself. I was thinking what someone else wanted me to think. But I’m all right now.” She hesitated. Now that I’m thinking what Clay wants me to think?

  What if he really was gone from my life? What would I be like then?

  Which reminded her … she turned to scan the hall, but Chameleon had flown off along with everyone else.

  There seemed to be a clear enough path to the roof now. “We can go up,” Peril said. “Stay close to me, but don’t touch me.”

  “Why not?” Cliff asked, immediately reaching for her tail.

  She flicked it out of his reach. “Because I’m very hot and you’ll get burned.”

  “Oh,” he scoffed. “I’m not afraid of me burned.”

  “I am,” Peril said. “Be careful — and don’t get close to Mommy either. She’s very busy right now, so you need to leave her alone.”

  “Until she WINS!” Cliff sang, vaulting into the air.

  If she wins, Peril thought as they flew up and out into the driving rain. What happens to Cliff if she doesn’t?

  The roof of the keep let out onto a rocky mountaintop with dizzying views of peaks all around them. Small tufts of fierce little scrub brushes clung to the dirt here and there, but mostly it was all rocks — long overlapping shelves of gray rock and lumps of boulders like giant stone eggs.

  Scarlet and Ruby were grappling in the center of a crowd of dragons; some were standing on the rocks and many were hovering in the air so they could watch but also make a quick escape if necessary.

  The Sky Kingdom is going to be a mess if Scarlet wins, Peril thought. She’s going to want to kill at least half the dragons here for disloyalty.

  Cliff wobbled over to a boulder that was taller than the others, with a view of the battlefield. The dragons on it saw him and Peril coming and cleared off quickly.

  As her talons landed on the slippery wet rock, Peril could see that already the battle was not going well for Ruby. A long slash down her neck and another across her back were bleeding, turning the puddles thick and red around her talons.

  The venom-scarred side of Sc
arlet’s face always looked as if it were melting, but the rain slithering off it now made it even worse. The triumphant leer didn’t help either; she looked absolutely terrifying and a little bit insane.

  Scarlet whirled around and cracked her tail across Ruby’s snout. Ruby let out a yelp of pain and jumped back, blinking blood and rain out of her eyes. She tried slashing at Scarlet’s nearest wing but missed, stumbling on the slick rocks.

  Cliff edged a little closer to Peril’s heat. “Mommy?” he whispered.

  This poor little dragonet. What do I do if Ruby loses?

  Maybe THEN I can kill Scarlet myself. I doubt anyone would try to stop me.

  But then there’d be no one left to be queen of the SkyWings, since Scarlet brilliantly disposed of all her heirs.

  A jolt ran through her. What about Tourmaline? If Scarlet was telling the truth, Tourmaline was still alive somewhere. And a backup heir would probably be fairly useful right about now.

  Where could Tourmaline be? Ruby would know if her sister were in any of the usual SkyWing prisons …

  But Peril already knew; she could have guessed from the moment she ripped off the necklace. Nobody knew where Tourmaline was, because Tourmaline wasn’t herself anymore. Like Peril, she must have been enchanted by Chameleon. She could be anybody now.

  Which meant that only Chameleon and Scarlet would be able to identify her.

  Peril narrowed her eyes, searching the audience of SkyWings. One thing about Chameleon’s disguise as Soar: he blended right in to the rest of the tribe. It took her several minutes to spot him, and then she only did because she caught his eyes watching her instead of the fight.

  She pointed at him, and then at the rock beside her. Come here. Right. Now.

  He wavered for a moment, then flapped down to land, she noticed, in a way that kept Cliff between him and her. Oh, very brave, Father. Hiding behind a dragonet: classy.

  “I was thinking,” he said quickly, before she could speak. “Perhaps we should try a different enchantment. Maybe you don’t even want to be a SkyWing anymore. We could both be MudWings! In fact, I could do that right now and we could fly away from here together; what do you think? I hear the Mud Kingdom is … tolerable. We could start a new life together. Very far away from whoever wins this fight.”