Glory lunged forward with her fangs bared and seized the closest spear in her talons. She yanked it toward her, throwing the guard off-balance, and shot a jet of venom that missed his face but sprayed across his wings and back.

He let go of the spear and stumbled toward the cave entrance with a shriek of pain.

The scarred dragon dropped his spear. He shot out of the cave, shoving aside his injured tribemate as he went by.

Glory whipped toward the last guard and tried to turn the spear on him, but her wrapped talons were clumsy and she fumbled the weapon. He darted toward her, stabbing for her neck. Glory hissed a spray of venom at him, but to her surprise he dodged and rolled under it. A moment later he knocked her over and pinned her facedown. He shoved her snout into the rocky floor and pressed the points of the spear into her neck.

“Nice try, RainWing,” he snarled. “But it’s not that easy to fool a YYEEEOOOOOWW!” His weight suddenly disappeared from her back as his howls echoed around the cave.

Glory leaped to her feet and found Kinkajou beside her, with her front talons pressed over her snout.

“I can’t believe I did that!” Kinkajou yelped. “Oh my gosh, look at him!”

The NightWing staggered into the wall, clawing at his neck. Kinkajou had hit him with only a few droplets of venom, but those were smoking and bubbling on his scales. He turned back to the two RainWings with pain-crazed rage in his eyes.

“I’m sorry!” Kinkajou cried. “Oh, that looks like it hurts so much!”

Glory yanked the spear out of the guard’s claws and shoved him over the drop-off at the back of the cave. She could hear him flapping and blundering around in the dark, still yowling.

“But —” Kinkajou said.

“He’ll be fine once he remembers he has fire,” Glory said. “We should be gone by then.”

“I didn’t realize you meant escape now,” Kinkajou said. “I mean, like, right now. That is so crazy. You’re crazy.” Her voice was edgy and manic, but her scales were bright yellow with excitement.

“Tone it down a bit, can you?” Glory said, nodding at the little dragonet’s wings. “We don’t need to alert the whole mountain as we escape. Try looking like them.” She turned her own scales the same gleaming black as the NightWings outside. “And I’m Glory, by the way.”

“Got it,” Kinkajou said, flipping her tail. Inky black spread across her scales as if someone was pouring the night sky onto her. “But how do we get you over the lava river?”

Whoops. Glory had forgotten about that. Or rather, she hadn’t thought that far ahead; she’d seen an opportunity to use her venom and took it without thinking. Who am I, Tsunami? she scolded herself.

Worse yet, she knew the scarred NightWing would be back any moment with reinforcements.

She clamped her teeth down on the canvas that covered her talons. With a violent shake of her head, she ripped at the cloth until it tore loose. As soon as her claws were free, she seized a spear and turned it on the ropes wrapped around her body.

“The guards are coming,” Kinkajou said anxiously.

“Pretend you’re a NightWing dragonet and stall them,” Glory said. She jabbed the spear point awkwardly at one of the ropes and stabbed herself in the underbelly. With a hiss, she hefted the weapon and tried again.

“Yes. All right. Stall them. No problem,” Kinkajou said. She darted toward the cave entrance. The first NightWing Glory had attacked was lying halfway across the opening, moaning softly and writhing as if he were trying to wriggle out of his own skin.

Kinkajou blinked at him for a moment, then lifted one of his wings so it draped across her shoulders and back, covering the brass band around her neck. She leaned a little way out of the cave and looked up.

“Quick!” she shouted suddenly, making Glory jump. “She attacked us! And escaped! We saw her go that way!” She pointed down the mountain. “Hurry! Don’t stop! She was flying super-fast! No, no, I’ll take care of him! Go after her! She’s getting away!”

The whoosh of wings shot by overhead, sending a blast of hot air back into the cave. At the same time, Glory finally hooked the spear into the knot of the rope. With a twist, she managed to saw the sharp points across the fibers until they split — but as that rope slid off, she realized there were four more separately knotted around her.

I’ll never get these all off before they realize it was a trick and come back, she thought. There had to be another way across the river. Maybe there was something they could use as a stepping stone.

She hurried to the opening and stared out, looking for large boulders. Kinkajou watched her trustingly. A squadron of five NightWings was flapping away down the mountain, toward a black-sand beach and an expanse of gray, stormy water.

Only five NightWings to stop me? Glory thought. She glanced up the mountain, but there was no sign of an alarm or extra forces mobilizing.

“I guess they’re not really that worried about me escaping,” she said uneasily.

“I’m getting pretty worried about it, though,” Kinkajou offered.

“Hey,” Glory said, poking the wounded guard. “You can still fly, can’t you?”

He flinched away from her. “I can’t,” he moaned. “Everything hurts.”

It didn’t even look that bad. He’d avoided the worst of the spray, and most of the damage was along one side of his back.

“You’re going to hurt a lot more unless you carry me over this lava,” Glory said. “Or cut these ropes off for me.” She bared her fangs at him, and he threw his wings over his head, scuttling backward into the cave.

“Actually,” said a new voice, “I have a better offer.”

Glory whirled around as a black dragon descended from the sky and gave her a cheeky grin.

“Hello, Glory,” said Deathbringer.