Talons of Power

by Tui T. Sutherland

  “Would you like me to dispose of them?” Darkstalker’s voice asked, deep and eerie in the shadows overhead.

  “Oh, wonderful,” said the female prisoner bitterly. “Fat lot of use you were,” she hissed at the two SandWing captives. The last was another NightWing, a solidly built male, who shuffled toward her and reached his tail to rest gently on hers.

  “Wait,” said Glory. “I want to talk to them. You’re Fierceteeth, aren’t you? And this must be Strongwings.”

  The female only glared back, but the male nodded.

  “Listen,” said Glory, “what you did cannot easily be forgiven. You kidnapped Sunny and you planned to betray us to Burn in the hope that my friends and I would die — including your own brother.”

  Turtle blinked at Kinkajou, then back at the other dragons. Brother? Was this hissing ball of fury related to Starflight?

  “No,” Fierceteeth snapped. “I would have kept him out of it.”

  Glory regarded her for a moment as though she wasn’t sure what to believe. “Well, that’s something, at least,” she said. “What was your plan here tonight?”

  “To take the throne for a true NightWing, so our tribe can have its pride back.” Fierceteeth tried to lift her shoulders under the weight of the chains.

  “Oh, already taken care of,” said Darkstalker. He gave a little tug on the chain he held and Strongwings stumbled forward into an accidental bow. “I’m going to rule the NightWings now.”

  “The ones who choose to go with him,” Glory interjected.

  “You can’t,” Fierceteeth said. “You’re male. And where did you come from? You weren’t with us on the volcano, that’s for sure. What gives you the right to rule us?”

  “Size, power, timing, charm, and a whole bunch of dragons who think it’s a great idea,” said Darkstalker with a grin. “My name is Darkstalker.”

  Strongwings let out a whimper and covered his head with his wings. “We’re going to die,” he said in a muffled voice. “It was all true. It was, I knew it. He’s come back to kill us all.”

  But Fierceteeth held her ground, staring up at Darkstalker. “Really,” she said. “From the ghost stories. You.”

  “In the scales,” he said.

  “Right,” she scoffed. “That’s a pretty clever trick. Show up, pretend to be everyone’s worst nightmare, and scare them into giving you the crown. Well, it’s not going to work on me, you scaly worm. I’m not even a little bit afraid of you.”

  Darkstalker chuckled, rustling the leaves in the trees.

  “Fierceteeth,” Strongwings whispered. “Stop. It’s him! Don’t make him mad!”

  “It is Darkstalker,” Anemone said loudly from behind Glory and Deathbringer. “And he could crush you with one flick of his claw!”

  “Maybe he should, given what you were planning to do to the queen,” Deathbringer added.

  “If you’re so powerful, then you can handle a challenge,” Fierceteeth said to Darkstalker, ignoring the others. “I want the NightWing throne. I think I should get to be queen. I’m female and I know my tribe; I’d be better at it than some lying stranger.”

  “Hey,” Turtle whispered to Kinkajou. “Maybe I’m wrong about Darkstalker’s spell. She doesn’t seem affected by it at all.”

  “Actually, I think this is how she talks to dragons she likes,” Kinkajou said ruefully.

  “Brave little Fierceteeth,” said Darkstalker.

  “Don’t call me little!” she interrupted him. “Just because you’re overgrown doesn’t mean you can patronize me!”

  “I was going to say I like your spirit,” Darkstalker started.

  “Can you make that a bit more condescending?” Fierceteeth snapped back.

  He paused, and Turtle got the distinct impression that he was trying not to laugh.

  “All right,” he said at length. “You’re not a dragon who likes compliments, I see. So I’ll be blunt. I don’t want to begin my reign as king of the NightWings by killing one of my subjects, especially one who could be such a valuable asset in rebuilding our tribe.” He turned to Glory. “Given the utter failure of all her schemes so far, and her relationship to Starflight, my proposal is this: Grant her your mercy and give her to me. Tomorrow I’ll take her to the Night Kingdom with me, where she’ll have no reason to bother you anymore. She can be my problem instead.”

  “I WILL be your problem!” Fierceteeth growled. “No one gives me to anybody! I’ll go to the Night Kingdom only if I WANT to.” She paused, narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and added, “What Night Kingdom? Where?”

  “The old one,” said Darkstalker, “where the tribe should have been for the last two thousand years. You’ll love it. We’ll find you something important to do.”

  “Hang on,” said Deathbringer. “She tries to assassinate Glory, and her ‘punishment’ is she gets to be part of your court, ruling the NightWings?”

  “Makes sense to me,” said Glory thoughtfully. “She wouldn’t be a threat to me anymore, once she has what she wants. Right, Fierceteeth? And then I don’t have to have Starflight’s entire family behind bars.” She took a step closer to Fierceteeth. “Would you leave my rainforest, my friends, and my tribe alone if we give you this second chance?”

  Fierceteeth glared sideways at Darkstalker. “Are you lying?” she demanded. “Would I really be in charge of something?”

  “All you want is a little power and a lot of respect,” Darkstalker observed. “I can give you those.”

  “And Strongwings,” she interjected. “He stays with me.”

  Darkstalker gave Strongwings an unimpressed look and shrugged. “If you insist.”

  Fierceteeth tapped her claws on the ground thoughtfully. Strongwings still had his head covered, looking very much like a dragon who regretted all his life choices so far.

  “Think about it overnight,” Darkstalker suggested. “In our lovely new accommodations for troublemakers.” He swept one wing toward the prison, where, Turtle was sure, even a few minutes would convince any dragon to accept alternate offers.

  “Hey! What about us?” grunted one of the SandWings.

  “Queen Thorn gets to decide your fate,” Glory said, drawing herself up regally. “In the meanwhile, you’re going in there, too.” She tossed the keys to Darkstalker.

  Darkstalker twitched the chain and Strongwings stumbled back to his feet. Wings drooping as they marched inside, all four prisoners disappeared into the forbidding gray block behind Darkstalker.

  Glory shuddered. “That was awful,” she said. “I always thought I’d like dispensing justice more than that.”

  “I wouldn’t call that justice,” Deathbringer grumbled.

  “We’re looking for what brings peace to our rainforest,” Glory pointed out, “and for whatever gives dragons a chance to be their best selves.” She hesitated, glancing around at Anemone, who had curled up drowsily under a mammoth fern. “Something does feel weird, though,” she added in a lower voice. “Like I’m not entirely sure I trust my decisions right now.”

  She’s feeling what Qibli felt, Turtle guessed. Torn between Darkstalker’s spell and what her own intelligence is telling her.

  Darkstalker emerged from the prison, closing the heavy metal door with a grim clunk behind him. Turtle noticed that he didn’t return the keys to Glory, but neither did she ask for them.

  “Now that’s taken care of,” he said, “and your life has been saved and everything, I’ll return to my tribe and get some sleep. We have a long flight ahead in the morning!”

  “Thank you,” Glory said — a little reluctantly, Turtle thought, or maybe he just hoped so.

  “Cheer up, Your Majesty!” Darkstalker said cheerfully. “We stopped some bad guys tonight! Isn’t that fantastic? Just think what kind of teamwork our tribes might have ahead of us.”

  “Wait,” said Deathbringer, tilting his head. “Didn’t you say there were five dragons coming to attack Glory tonight? Why were there only four prisoners?”

  Was that a moment o
f hesitation from Darkstalker?

  “I didn’t want to alarm you,” he said slowly. “There was a third SandWing … but he fought back, and I was forced to kill him.”

  If that’s true, he did it very quickly, Turtle thought. And silently.

  “Oh,” said Deathbringer. “Well. Good.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” said Glory at the same time. “We should find out his name from the other two. I’m sure Queen Thorn will want that information.”

  “Indeed. Very wise,” said Darkstalker, nodding. “And I’ll take care of the body for you, don’t worry.”

  Kinkajou jabbed Turtle in the side and he nearly jumped out of his scales.

  “Lying,” she whispered, pointing one claw at Darkstalker. “Lying lying super liar.”

  He agreed with her, but he couldn’t see the point of this lie. What was Darkstalker hiding now?

  “Very well. We’ll see you in the morning,” said Glory, spreading her wings. She and Deathbringer flew off to the treetops, leaving Darkstalker and Anemone alone in the dying glow of the embers.

  Darkstalker looked down at the sleeping SeaWing princess. Something glinted in his eyes — something that made Turtle want to throw hiding spells all over his sister, no matter the risk. He crouched closer to the damp earth, wishing he were smarter, braver, bolder — really any other kind of dragon than the kind he was.

  “Not much longer, Princess,” Darkstalker whispered. “Soon it’ll be your turn to change the world.”

  Turtle and Kinkajou spent the night in the healing pavilion, where the healers were pinkly atwitter with delight when they discovered Kinkajou was awake. While they checked her for any remaining injuries — and freaked out when they found none — Turtle wrote another note to Qibli.

  He thought for a moment, then added,

  He hoped that was enough information as he erased it, although he wasn’t sure what good it did for Qibli to know all that.

  Before he fell asleep, Turtle made Kinkajou promise not to go “deal with Darkstalker” without him, however she might interpret that phrase: no “sneaking, stealing, attacking, thwacking, or pineapples,” he begged. He also asked her not to tell Queen Glory anything.

  “I have to let her know I’m all right!” Kinkajou insisted.

  “That’s fine,” he said, “but don’t say anything about me, or our suspicions about Darkstalker, or how much you know about him, or what we might do next.”

  “Jumping poison frogs,” Kinkajou said, looking exasperated. “Why not?”

  “Because he can read Glory’s mind,” Turtle pointed out, “and we don’t want him to hear anything that might make him nervous or suspicious.”

  After much arguing, she agreed, and Turtle fell asleep feeling maybe a tiny iota less nervous than before.

  At daybreak, Kinkajou woke him and they flew to the NightWing village. As they soared through the trees, Kinkajou tossed mangoes and bananas to Turtle, chattering busily.

  “I visited my close personal friend Queen Glory last night,” she said. “Just to let her know I’m totally fine now. She was SO MAD and so happy and SO MAD at the same time. I got a seriously serious lecture about staying away from dangerous dragons from now on. La la la, irony. But she’ll forgive me when we save the world, right? Right? Turtle?”

  “Oh, yes, sure,” he said through a mouthful of banana. He hadn’t realized this was a conversation he’d have to take an active part in.

  “I told her I want to go back to Jade Mountain,” said Kinkajou. “Which is true. I do want to go back there. I’m just going to take a quick detour to the new Night Kingdom on the way and not mention that part to her until later, like, way much later, like maybe when we’re a hundred.”

  “Do we have to go to the Night Kingdom?” Turtle asked. “Maybe there’s another way to stop Darkstalker … from here?”

  “No, I figured it out!” Kinkajou said. “I was thinking about it last night. This is all about Moon’s prophecy! It’s right there in the words. He’s the thing that shakes the earth and scorches the ground, right? So we have to save Jade Mountain by finding the lost city of night, and that’s where Darkstalker is going, so we just follow him there and BOOM, catastrophe averted! Everybody safe! Why are you rubbing your forehead again?”

  “No reason,” said Turtle. He’d read enough scrolls to know that no heroic quest was ever that easy — but he’d also spent enough time with Kinkajou to realize that it wouldn’t do any good to tell her that.

  Darkstalker had been busy in the night. When they arrived at the village, they discovered that he’d already packed (or made someone pack) several nets full of food from the rainforest. He stood on Glory’s platform, counting the supplies gathered below him, as NightWings gradually filled the clearing in whispering clumps of twos and threes.

  “I wonder how many of them are going with him,” Kinkajou said, swooping down to land at the back of the crowd. Turtle touched down beside her, folding in his wings and ducking his head to avoid the funny looks he was getting from the rest of the NightWings.

  “I bet most of them,” he said. “Wouldn’t you follow a king who could give you superpowers?”

  “No way,” Kinkajou said with fierce loyalty. “Queen Glory is perfect. I want her to be my queen forever and always. MOON!” she shrieked suddenly, spotting her clawmate as Moon passed by with her mother.

  Moon jumped nearly the height of a small tree and turned around. Her face lit up like a thousand dragons shouting in Aquatic at once. “Kinkajou?” she cried.

  They barreled into each other, wings overlapping in a ferocious hug, voices overlapping as they both tried to talk at once.

  “You’re awake!” Moon yelped through tears. “You’re all right! I’ve been so worried!”

  “You did everything cool without me!” Kinkajou said at the same time. “I can’t believe all the amazing things you’ve been doing! Without me!”

  “I was going to come check on you today,” Moon said, wiping her eyes. “After Darkstalker leaves. I would have come yesterday, but I’ve been busy trying to convince as many NightWings as I can to stay here in the rainforest.” She sighed. “I’m not exactly the best spokesdragon, though. Nobody particularly liked me before, and they don’t like me much better now that I’ve returned with mind reading powers and ‘the Darkstalker.’”

  “I like you enough to make up for ten thousand grumpy dragons,” Kinkajou promised. Moon smiled at her shyly, like that was still hard for her to believe.

  “What did you tell them?” Turtle asked. “I thought you liked Darkstalker.”

  “I do!” Moon said. “He’s been great so far. But Queen Glory is the best thing to happen to this tribe in two thousand years. She’s fair and generous and she’s given them a safe place to live. NightWings have always been afraid of living somewhere the IceWings could find them, in case the old war flares up, but Queen Glory made sure there was a truce with Queen Glacier first thing, to keep the tribe safe.” She shook her head. “I think Queen Glory has proven herself to be a just and kind queen. We don’t know anything about Darkstalker or what kind of king he would be. I feel like this is all happening too fast.”

  Turtle noticed that several NightWings had edged closer, pretending not to listen but clearly listening to Moon.

  “And plus also,” Kinkajou chimed in, “don’t forget the part where he’s totally evil.”

  Moon raised her eyebrows. “He’s not evil,” she said. “Not like Scarlet was. If he were evil, wouldn’t I have seen it in his thoughts?”

  “You’ve seen the thoughts he wanted you to see,” said Kinkajou. “Right? He can totally shield the rest of them, can’t he? The EVIL thoughts?”

  Moon lifted her head to look over the crowd at Darkstalker. He had his head bowed and was absentmindedly shredding a mauve flower that had grown up at the edge of the stage.

  “Maybe,” she said. “But I think he’s really trying to help, even if I wouldn’t do it the way he’s doing it. I think he just wants his trib
e back, the way it was before.”

  Kinkajou opened her mouth and Turtle stood on her foot to hush her up. If Moon were under a spell, telling her about it wouldn’t do any good. It was encouraging, though, that she could choose Glory over Darkstalker, despite whatever spells he was using on her.

  “Was Darkstalker upset when you told him?” he asked.

  “He said he understands,” she said. “And that he expects me to change my mind.”

  “Ha! Not likely!” Kinkajou gave Moon another hug. “So what are you going to do now?”

  “Go back to school,” Moon said with a sigh. “It feels a little weird, with everything happening … but that’s what Queen Glory wants me to do. And that’s where Qibli and Winter are — and you guys will be there, too, right?”

  “Sure, eventually, but don’t you want to see the old Night Kingdom first?” Kinkajou asked. “Maybe just a quick visit before we go back to Jade Mountain?”

  “Why would we do that?” Moon asked.

  “No reason!” Kinkajou glanced around and whispered loudly. “Except maybe a prophecy reason.”

  Moon flicked a fat green beetle off her tail and tipped her head at Kinkajou. “I kind of do want to see it,” she said. “I mean … I have been thinking about the prophecy … but I don’t understand how going there will stop anything from happening.”

  “You never know until you try!” Kinkajou said brightly. “That’s settled, then. We’ll all go to the Night Kingdom. Not with Darkstalker, though. Definitely not with him. More like … right behind him. Yes? Yes. Settled. Whew, I thought it was going to be much weirder to try explaining why I was in the Night Kingdom, but if I’m there with you, my gifted and awesome clawmate, then it makes total sense.”

  “I’m not sure —” Moon began, but the crowd suddenly parted and Darkstalker came striding through, straight toward their little group.

  Turtle felt himself shrinking as the NightWing loomed over them. Kinkajou, on the other talon, seemed to be trying to make herself look bigger. She spread her wings and puffed up her chest and fixed Darkstalker with her fiercest stare.