Talons of Power (organization)

"We're the new law and order in this town, and soon in the whole kingdom. I had them looking into these heartbreaking attacks and the dreadful mess Thorn has made of investigating. We discovered who's responsible and we'll bring them to justice. I call them my Talons of Power."

— Vulture to Qibli, Darkness of Dragons

(This is the page for the organization. You may be looking for the book titled Talons of Power, the graphic novel, or the ceremony instead.)

The Talons of Power are a large organization of SandWings who reside within the Scorpion Den. They were founded by and are currently led by Vulture, and they form a substantial part of the Scorpion Den underworld, specializing in organized crime.

Goals/description

The Talons of Power specialize in organized crime. They are an antagonistic group, posing a danger to the economic and social stability of Pyrrhia. In Darkness of Dragons, their goal was to kill Queen Thorn and replace her with a dragon of royal blood: Onyx, the long-lost daughter of ex-Prince Smolder.

All known members of the Talons are SandWings. They are adorned with black hoods that cover their faces and gold medallions, emblazoned with the shape of a vulture, around their necks.

Members

• Vulture (leader)
• Bog (associated)
• Cobra (associated)
• Onyx
• Rattlesnake
• Saguaro (associated)
• Sirocco

Signals & communication

The Talons of Power can be summoned by banging a metal sheet within Vulture's compound that makes an eerie, coppery noise when struck.

History

The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Moon Rising
Moon had a vision of Qibli shouting at his family, who were wearing medallions etched with "some kind of bird," believed to be the medallions worn by the Talons of Power. The bird was most likely a vulture, heed after Vulture.

Escaping Peril

When Turtle and Peril awaited Turtle's friends in Possibility, Peril watched as a SkyWing merchant and two SandWings, wearing hoods and medallions, argued with each other. One of them eventually kicked a dragonflame cactus, which rolled into Peril's talons, exploding in her face. Since Peril had firescales, she did not die but was in pain for the next several minutes, and nobody else died either. The two SandWings were part of the Talons of Power, most likely buying bombs and other weapons for their organization. Tui confirmed that the two SandWings were Rattlesnake and Sirocco.

Talons of Power
In the epilogue, it is stated that in the Kingdom of Sand, three explosions, timed to go off simultaneously, started every dragon panicking, and black-hooded dragons wearing medallions — members of the Talons of Power — were seen fleeing the scenes.

Darkness of Dragons

After Ostrich was mysteriously kidnapped by who looks to be Onyx, Qibli seemed to know who was behind it: his grandfather, Vulture, leader of the Talons of Power. He and Winter traveled to the Scorpion Den to confront Vulture, but Vulture captured them instead. The crime lord then revealed the Talons of Power's goal: they wanted to kill Thorn and replace her with a dragon who actually had royal blood: Onyx, Smolder's long-lost daughter. Vulture was also behind the bombing attacks (as seen in the epilogue of the Talons of Power book), but lied to Qibli that he was trying to stop them and blamed the dragon deaths on Thorn for not doing something. Bog, a MudWing that Vulture also "captured," said that the MudWings were behind the explosions, but it was later found out that Bog was lying and is secretly Peril's dad, Chameleon-in-disguise. Vulture then showed Qibli his mother, Cobra, chained in an oubliette with snakes and crocodiles surrounding her. Vulture said that she was put down here ever since Qibli left as a punishment for her selling him to Thorn. He ordered Cobra to be taken out and gave Qibli a piece of paper ordering to write Queen Thorn's secrets on it for them, such as lock codes, stronghold weak-spots, secret treasure vaults, etc. Cobra was there beside him, whipping all her anger and pressure on him because he was the dragon who got her sent in the oubliette. After nightfall, however, Cobra decided to try and escape with Qibli and Winter. With a little help from Turtle's leftover magical items, they escaped after taking a quick detour for Cobra to raid Vulture's treasury and Winter to rescue some scavengers. Qibli and his new team decided to fly to Thorn's Stronghold and warn the queen about Vulture, but when they get there, Qibli realized the Talons of Power's master plan: make it seem like they imprisoned Cobra for years, then make them escape and go to Thorn so Cobra could kill her with ease. He told Thorn to arrest Cobra, which she did. With their master plan failed, the Talons of Power flew over to the stronghold with Onyx, who challenged Queen Thorn to a royal challenge. Thorn accepted. Qibli, afraid the Eye of Onyx would choose Onyx over Thorn since she was of real royal blood, used Anemone's weather bracelets to conjure a sandstorm and delay the challenge. The Talons of Power then fled in the chaos, but a number of them fled into the castle with the other SandWings to escape the storm. After the storm ended, Thorn had the remaining members put to work with the promise of a general amnesty, believing that most of the SandWing rebels had been misled.

Trivia

• Vulture thought that the Talons of Peace was too good a name for that group of dragons, and says his organization was much better, with a different name.