The Dragonet Prophecy

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The Dragonet Prophecy

Cover artist	Joy Ang
Published	July 1, 2012
Page count	336
ISBN	9780545349185 (hardcover) 9781338883190 (paperback)
Preceded by	[[Deserter; Dragonslayer; Assassin]]
Followed by	The Lost Heir

Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy, is the first novel in the Wings of Fire series and the first book in arc one. It was published by Scholastic Press in 2012. The cover art was illustrated by Joy Ang and the cover design was created by Phil Falco.

Summary

Discover where it all began! The #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling series takes flight in this epic adventure of five dragons destined and determined to save their world.

Clay has lived his whole life under the mountain. The MudWing dragonet knows that war is raging between the dragon tribes in the world outside -- a war that he and four other dragonets are destined to end, according to the mysterious Prophecy they've been taught. The five "chosen" dragonets were stolen from their homes while they were still in their eggs and hidden away ever since -- all to fulfill the Prophecy.

But not every dragonet wants a destiny. And when danger threatens one of their own, Clay and his friends must choose freedom over fate . . . leave the mountain . . . and set the dragon world on a course that no one could have predicted.

Quote on Back of Hardcover

"Leave?" Clay echoed, startled. "How? On our own?"

"Why not?" Tsunami said. "If we can find a way out — why should we have to wait another two years? I'm ready to save the world now, aren't you?"

"We can't stop the war by ourselves," he said. "We wouldn't know where to start."

Still, part of him couldn't help imagining what it would be like to go home now. Back to the marshes, to the swamps, to a whole tribe of MudWings who looked like him and thought like him... back to his parents, whoever they were...

What if they could do it?

What if they could escape, and survive, and save the world...their own way?

Dedication

For Jonah, my little bigwings.

Plot

Prologue

Set one day prior to the brightest night, Hvitur is attempting to escape the Sky Kingdom with a stolen SkyWing egg needed for The Dragonet Prophecy. During his escape, he is spotted by lookouts and Burn, who capture Hvitur and stop his escape. Burn then drops the SkyWing egg over the cliff after learning its purpose in the prophecy, aiming to render it impossible to fulfill. She subsequently attacks and throws Hvitur over the cliff, killing him, after he attempted to save the egg from falling.

Some time later, Kestrel gathers an eggshell from the destroyed SkyWing egg at the bottom of the cliff and enters into a cave located in what's later revealed to be the Claws of the Clouds mountain range. There she meets with Webs, a member of the Talons of Peace, which is a group of dragons that try to fulfill the prophecy. Kestrel and Hvitur are also a part of this group. She tells Webs about the destruction of the egg and that the prophecy was over. She is informed of Asha's death, who died from wounds she received after ending up in a crossfire between Blaze's and Blister's troops while fetching the MudWing egg. They question where Dune, who's tasked with finding the SandWing egg, is. With only 3 of the 5 eggs at hand, Kestrel thinks it's best if they destroy the eggs and flee before any other Talons of Peace members can find out. Webs however doesn't believe the Prophecy is lost yet and decides to go to the Rainforest to acquire a RainWing egg, much to Kestrel's distaste.

Part one: Under the mountain

It's six years later. We follow one of the Dragonets of Destiny, a MudWing named Clay. He's thinking about his role in the prophecy whilst training with Kestrel. Who's growing more and more annoyed with his unwillingness to fight. Clay on the other hand thinks she's treating him in an unfair way, and expecting him to be someone he isn't. At some point, she pins him down and starts taunting him for his weakness. At which point another dragonet, the SeaWing dragonet Tsunami, comes in between them by biting in their guardian's tail. She distracts Kestrel long enough for Clay to get back onto his feet, after which Kestrel angrilly leaves.

Tsunami and Clay end up cooling down in the cave river, where they discus the world outside of the cave they've been trapped in. Tsunami recites one of her favorite stories, The Missing Princess, which is about a lost SeaWing princess arriving back home after years of being missing. She fantasizes of being that missing princess and coming home to her loving parents. Clay fantasizes about meeting his family too. The conversation then delves into escaping the cave.

Later that evening, she and Clay go study with the other Dragonets. Starflight the NightWing, Glory the RainWing and Sunny the strange looking SandWing. They end up acting out the events of Queen Oasis's death, which started the War of SandWing Succession. Queen Oasis was unexpectedly killed by a scavenger, after which the three princesses and heirs, Blister, Blaze and Burn couldn't agree on who should be the next queen. Blister would end up finding support with the SeaWings, Burn would get the support of the SkyWings and MudWings as well as would take over the SandWing palace, and Blaze would be supported by the IceWings and most of the SandWings. However, the study session would be cut short by Kestrel, who ends up punishing Tsunami as she believes the Dragonet has started their game. Shortly after, everyone besides Sunny go listen in on a conversation between the guardians, and they learn about a NightWing named Morrowseer visiting tomorrow.

As promised, Morrowseer arrives the next day. He's immediately displeased with Glory being there instead of the Prophesized SkyWing, and deems her unworthy. Tsunami then starts to complain about how badly the Dragonets were being treated by their guardians. He follows her complaints up by attacking her, causing Sunny and Clay to jump in to try and defend her. This results Morrowseer declaring these two as acceptable. Morrowseer calls a private meeting with Starflight, who hadn't tried to help Tsunami, and they head into an isolated cave. Meanwhile Tsunami gets yelled at for her disrespectful behavior.

A bit later, after Morrowseer left, Clay questions Starflight about what Morrowseer wanted from him, but the NightWing Dragonet's reluctent to answer any of his questions. The two are notified of something happening when they hear Sunny start to yell, and watch as Tsunami is chained to a stalactite. The guardians leave her there and go to discuss something in private. Clay decides to try and eavesdrop. He finds out Kestrel is planning to kill Glory and goes to notify his friends of this information. After discussing their situation, they agree that Clay should try and follow the underground river into the unexplored part of the cave, see if he can open the cave from the outside while Glory uses her camouflage scales to hide for as long as possible. Clay's a bit nervous as he doesn't know where the river goes and if he'll be able to hold his breath for so long, but goes regardless.

After some struggle, he ends up in a cave filled with glowworms. He follows a stream that leads into a different part of the cave, however this part's filled with a sticky substance that is capable of dissolving scales. He starts to struggle against the pain, afraid he'll die there and his friends would never know. In his struggle he hits his head and blacks out. When he wakes up, Tsunami is helping him get the substance of his scales. She had escaped her chains with the help of Sunny's and Starflight's fire and came to look for him.

The two of them end up finding the cave exit as they're pulled over the edge of a waterfall. Clay notices Tsunami had dislocated her wing while trying to escape from her chains and can't fly, so he attempts to break her fall. He ends up finding out mud has healing qualities for him and then helps Tsunami by relocating her wing.

While he's doing that, a scavenger runs into them, they notice he's holding treasure. They take this treasure and decide to keep it, not knowing it belongs to the SkyWing queen, Queen Scarlet, who arrives shortly after. She kills the scavenger and questions the Dragonets, believing she's dealing with a SeaWing spy. The two of them don't recognize the queen, causing Tsunami to be disrespectful. When Scarlet asks them to come with her to the palace, Tsunami attacks and impales her tail with the weapon the scavenger was holding, they then flee the scene, flying up to the mountain peaks. Tsunami and Clay hide amongst the peaks until night falls, after which they notice a smoke signal made by the other Dragonets and manage to find the entrance to the cave.

However, the smoke signal had also notified Scarlet of their location and she follows the Dragonets into their hiding space. Only Dune and Webs are present, Kestrel had left to try and look for Tsunami and Clay, not believing either of them would come back for the other Dragonets. The two guardians fight with the SkyWing troops but to no avail. Kestrel ends up arriving shortly after and offers herself up as prisoner on the condition that Scarlet let the other dragons go unharmed. Scarlet however doesn't take the offer, she kills Dune and then takes the Dragonets and Kestrel prisoner. Webs manages to flee the scene through diving into the river outside of the cave, while the rest gets taken to the palace.

Part two: in the Sky Kingdom

After Clay and his friends are taken to the Sky Kingdom, they are separated. Clay gets taken to be chained to one of the rock spires located around an arena. On his second day of being chained to his spire, he meets a strange female SkyWing who comes to bring him a charred piece of meat. The piece of prey reminds him of Dune and he throws up over the edge of his prison, which the SkyWing Dragonet finds amusing. She then asks him if he's planning to eat, reasoning that she doesn't want him to die before she gets to kill him. Upon Clay's confusion, she explains that she's never fought a MudWing before due to the MudWings and SkyWings being allies. She explains to him that Scarlet will have him fight regular prisoners first, but if he survives she'll get to fight him. She mentions that she's most excited about fighting the NightWing. He realizes she's talking about Starflight and peers over the edge to look for him, he finds him at almost the complete opposite side of the arena. The SkyWing comments on Starflight not talking much and Clay jokes about asking him to explain the Scorching, which she takes literally and tells him she'll try. He asks her who she is and she introduces herself as Peril, the queen's champion. She quickly explains the concept of the arena. Clay asks her if she's seen his other friends after not being able to spot Sunny or Glory. She points out where Tsunami is, and is surprised to find out there's a RainWing around somewhere. She informs him neither Sunny or Glory had been brought to the arena, but promises she'll keep an eye out for them. She then leaves him to prepare for her next fight.

The next day, Clay witnesses a fight between Peril and a SandWing named Horizon. Before the fight starts he sees Scarlet bring in a tree with Glory laying on top of it. She seems to be asleep and Scarlet introduces her as her new piece of art. The fight starts and Clay is surprised to hear Horizon scream any time Peril touches him. He doesn't understand why he'd do that but then notices several burn wounds along his body. Horizon eventually tries to attack her with his tail barb, but it catches fire. He tries to put it out as Peril comes at him again. Without warning he throw himself towards the SkyWing and starts burning up. Clay worries about having to fight a dragon with fire in her claws.

That night Peril comes to visit him again. Clay asks why she's doing what Queen Scarlet tells her to. She explains that no one else wants her, and explains that SkyWings with too much fire usually get thrown of the mountain before they can fly. She explains her mother was going to do that, but that Queen Scarlet saved her and took her under her wing. She also tells him that she used to have a twin brother, whom she killed before he could hatch. Clay tells her about attacking the eggs in his nest upon hatching, making Peril believe they have a lot in common.

She notifies him that Starflight will have to fight next, to which Clay tries to convince her to tell Scarlet to let him fight in his place. The following day, Clay's forced to face off against one of the IceWings, Fjord. He tries to talk his opponent out of fighting but fails. At some point during the battle Tsunami manages to cause a commotion by diving off her spire and getting the other prisoners, who're all chained to each other, to panic. Which causes everyone watching the fight to be distracted. During this distraction Fjord gets hit by a jet of an unknown black substance which immediately starts melting his scales. He dies shortly after. As no one's seen what happened, everyone assumes Clay has somehow killed the IceWing.

Later that day, there's another battle, though this one's between scavengers and one of the prisoners. It's over rather quickly. Peril comes to see him that night. She asks him how he killed Fjord, seeming a little scared of his abilities, but reasons that he probably wouldn't tell her due to the fact they'll likely have to fight at some point. Clay tells her it wasn't him, which she at first finds hard to believe though later accepts as an explanation. He asks her if she's found out where Sunny is. She says she does, but is only going to tell him if he does something for her. After Clay agrees she tells him Sunny is completely fine and even made some friends amongst the guards. Peril then asks him if he'll help her sneak in to watch the trial that's going to happen in the arena the next morning. Explaining that she had been forbidden to attend. She wants to hide behind him so she can find out why she wasn't allowed to come to something she usually wouldn't have gone to anyways. He agrees to try, realizing it must be Kestrel's trial she's referring to, though tells her his wing's hurt from the battle with Fjord and doesn't know if he'll be able to properly hide her. He realizes that pouring mud on it will probably help, and Peril decides to go find some.

They have a conversation in which Peril tells him her mother got killed by disobeying the queen and trying to flee the kingdom. She then tells him she can't leave the Sky Kingdom due to having to eat some kind of black rocks to survive her Firescales. And that Scarlet is the only one who knows where they are. He asks her if that's why she hasn't challenged the queen yet. To which Peril replies she doesn't want to be queen. She leaves to get Clay some food, allowing him some time to think. He comes to the conclusion that Peril's mother may not be dead, and that this might be the reason she's not allowed to attend Kestrel's trial. He suspects Kestrel is Peril's mother

The following day is indeed the day of Kestrel's trial. A SkyWing named Osprey is appointed to defend Kestrel while Vermilion tells everyone what happened. He claims that Scarlet gave an order which Kestrel disobeyed before she fled the kingdom. Osprey goes against this, explaining that Kestrel had been a loyal soldier who went into the mating program like was asked of her. She then had twins, one with too much fire and one with too little. Upon finding out the queen wanted them killed, she tried to flee with them to keep them safe, but was caught near the Diamond Spray River. Where she was given the offer to kill one of the Dragonets in order for her and the other Dragonet to be spared. Kestrel obeyed and killed the Dragonet with too little fire. However, despite her earlier offer Scarlet would change her order and demand the other Dragonet be killed too and Kestrel to be taken for trial. At which point Kestrel tried to take her surviving Dragonet and fly away, but she got burned in the process. Resulting in her being forced to leave her Dragonet in Scarlet's mercy while fleeing the kingdom. After the true story was revealed Scarlet calls Kestrel guilty and has her execution planned the next day, adding that Osprey shall be executed too for boring her.

Upon hearing this, Peril decides to step in and launches herself down to the arena. She demands to be allowed to use the Champion's Shield for Kestrel. A tradition in which the champion is allowed to ask to stand in for a single prisoner. She'll have to battle someone and if she wins, the prisoner will be spared. Scarlet gets angry upon hearing Peril refer to the tradition. It's revealed that Osprey told her about it as Peril cannot read due to being unable to hold scrolls. Scarlet ends up killing Osprey right then and there, to Peril's dismay as he had been her only friend. She tells Peril she'll be allowed to fight for her mother the following day, after which everyone is dismissed.

Burn arrives that night to celebrate Scarlet's hatching day and to collect Sunny, who'd be gifted to her so she can be added to Burn's collection. Clay attempts to communicate with Peril by playing The Dragonets Are Coming song using a wire she had accidentally burned during the trial. The other prisoners join in by singing the song. Angered, Scarlet took Clay, Tsunami and Starflight and held them prisoner in Peril's room, lighting the entry on fire so no one would be able to get out.

Peril would help them escape by picking up the rocks and moving them, but would later betray them while they attempted to get Sunny. During all of this, Clay accidentally touches Peril without getting burned. When they're back in Peril's room, Starflight explains that Clay is immune to fire due to being born in a blood red egg.

The following day the three of them are taken back to the arena. Starflight and Clay were forced to wait on Scarlet's balcony while Tsunami fought a SeaWing named Gill, who had been driven mad after not getting any water for several months. She manages to pin him to the ground, claiming she won without killing him. Scarlet is dissatisfied and starts to mock her, causing Tsunami to snap his neck. Starflight was then send in to fight Tsunami, but the two refused to fight. Instead 4 Scavengers were brought in to fight them, two of which got killed.

Afterwards, Scarlet would call for an IceWing to be brought into the arena. Clay would plead to go into the arena too, believing his 2 friends wouldn't be able to face off an IceWing. But before any fighting could happen, Morrowseer would appear from the clouds, demanding Starflight to be spared. When Scarlet says she wants to see a NightWing fight, Morrowseer commands the other NightWings with him to kill all IceWings present amongst the prisoners. He takes Starflight afterwards and they leave.

Scarlet, enraged, calls Tsunami back and says Peril can have her champion's shield battle. She lets her face off against Clay, believing he'll use the venom again. Clay quickly can get the upper hand on Peril due to being resistant to fire, which catches her off guard. Scarlet demands he uses his venom right then and there, at which moment Glory stands up and spits a blast of venom towards Scarlet and Burn. Burn manages to use Scarlet as a shield, causing her face to get the full impact. The watching dragons start to panic and in the chaos, Peril burns off the chains holding Clay's wings together, allowing him to fly towards Tsunami and Glory.

The four of them escape and go looking for Sunny, on their way there Clay helps a scavenger, later revealed to be Leaf, escape the palace. After Sunny's freed the five Dragonets get into a discussion on rather or not Kestrel should be rescued too, with Clay, Peril and Sunny voting yes. They manage to rescue her and flee the palace, stopping near the Waterfall. Kestrel tells the Dragonets she'll leave, but supposes they can always send a message to the dragon in the mountain if they need her. She then tells them where their eggs came from. Revealing Tsunami's was taken from the royal hatchery, Starflight's was given to them by Morrowseer, Sunny's was found near the Scorpion Den and that Clay's came from near the Diamond Spray Delta, where the lowest born MudWings live. She then tells them she doesn't know where Glory came from and asks Peril if she'll go with her. Peril refuses, saying she isn't ready, after which Kestrel leaves.

Clay offers Peril to join them, saying she might be the SkyWing from the prophecy. This hurts Glory but he doesn't notice. Peril refuses, deciding to stay in the Sky Kingdom, and they split ways. With the four remaining Dragonets deciding to follow the river and head towards The Mud Kingdom, in hopes of finding Clay's family.

Part three: An Egg the Color of Dragon Blood

The four Dragonets keep following the river until night falls. After they hunt, they discuss the three SandWing princesses, and try to decide which one they trust most to be a good queen, but end up not being able to find an answer. The next morning, Clay notices Glory is missing and he wakes up the others. Tsunami says that she must be angry with them. And refers to Clay's offer to let Peril join. Claiming Glory might not have felt welcome after they called Peril "the missing SkyWing from the prophecy". After a discussion between the three dragons, Clay insists on going to look for her. To which Tsunami calls Glory back. Revealing she had hidden herself nearby and was listening in to their conversation, explaining she was angry and believed they wanted her gone. But Tsunami had tried to tell her they didn't, which she needed to hear with her own ears.

They continue their journey down the river and eventually land in the MudWing Kingdom. Where they discover a massive battlefield full of corpses of Mud, Sand and IceWings. The battle seemed to have been recent too. The four dragons decide to go find a cave to hide in. The decide it's best not to take a SeaWing and an unfamiliar SandWing into a MudWing village, so Clay decides to go alone. Though Glory convinces him to let her come too, disguised as a MudWing.

In the MudWing village, they try to get the attention of a group of MudWings who're training. The leader of the group tells them they're not interested in taking in un-sibs, which confuses the two. Clay tells them he's just looking for someone, and eventually get the name Cattail. They end up finding her, and she's indeed revealed to be Clay's mother. She tells him she sold his eggs for some cows and explains to him that MudWings don't do parenting. That they live in a group with their siblings, and that she doesn't really care about him or his siblings.

Crushed, Clay decides it's best to go back to the others. But after some time, they run into a small group of MudWings, revealed to be Clay's siblings. They introduce themselves as Reed, the Big-wings, Marsh, Umber, Pheasant and Sora. Telling him some more about MudWing culture and revealing Clay didn't try to kill the other eggs in his nest, but tried to help them hatch. Which is the instinct of a big-wings. They also reveal that they had another sister, Crane, who died in the battle a few days back.

The sibs say goodbye, with Clay promising to visit them sometime, and they go back to the cave where the others are hiding. As they're preparing to leave again and look for Starflight, Morrowseer comes back to drop off the NightWing Dragonet. After their short reunion, they decide to visit The Kingdom of the Sea, to visit Tsunami's mother, the SeaWing Queen, and to go have a talk with Blister.

Epilogue

That night, Morrowseer meets up with Blister and Kestrel on a small island within the Bay of a Thousand Scales. Blister and Morrowseer are deep into a conversation. Morrowseer reveals he's commanded Starflight to convince the others they should choose Blister as the next queen, as by their agreement. Kestrel tries to ask them what they're talking about but gets ignored. Revealing she had been called by Morrowseer due to the Dragonets being in danger. He tells her that was a lie, and that she has failed him. She tries to argue with him but gets killed by Blister by being stabbed with her tail barb. Her body's then tossed over the edge of the cliff. Morrowseer and Blister keep talking as if nothing happened. Morrowseer tells Blister to get rid of Webs, that he's a potential danger to them. The book ends with Blister agreeing, and tells Morrowseer to get the Dragonets to come to her, and then they'll both have what they want.

Variants

Limited edition

The limited edition was released on October 1, 2024 and has mostly the same content as the regular edition. It includes new cover art by Joy Ang, a Q&A, and a chapter that was cut from the book.

Graphic novel edition

The graphic novel edition of The Dragonet prophecy was released on January 2, 2018. The story remained mostly intact, although some sections were cut in the graphic novel.

Trivia

• Tui knew from book one that the NightWings had lost their powers because she wanted the prophecy to be fake.
• On the pre-final cover of The Dragonet Prophecy, Scarlet's Arena is shown to the right on the front. However, this was later removed for the final printing.

Mistakes

• IceWings are described as having "silver scales like the moon" even though there are three moons.
• When Vermilion announced Gill's arrival onto the battlefield, his dialogue said "Gill of the Seawings" instead of "Gill of the SeaWings."
• Kestrel's tongue is described as forked, but SkyWings do not have forked tongues.
• The term hands was used instead of talons.

Gallery

to be added