Dragonslayer

(This is the page for the book titled Dragonslayer. You may be looking for the human known as the Dragonslayer instead.)

Dragonslayer is the second book in the Wings of Fire: Legends series. The main protagonists are Ivy, Leaf, and Wren. The book was officially released on March 3rd, 2020.

The cover was released on October 23rd, 2019 at 5 pm EST on HomeBase, an online playground created by Scholastic.

Dedication

For Kari, who would totally ride a dragon (and who saved this book!)

Summary

This special edition of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series soars back in time to give readers a glimpse of Pyrrhia through new eyes.

In the shadow of wings ... humans fight for survival.

Ivy doesn't trust the Dragonslayer. He may be her father and the beloved lord of Valor, but she knows he's hiding more than the treasure from the sand dragon he killed two decades ago.

Leaf doesn't trust dragons. They're the reason his favorite sister, Wren, is dead, and now he'll do whatever it takes to slay even one.

Wren doesn't trust anyone. She swore off humans after her village tried to sacrifice her to the dragons. She only has one friend, a small, wonderful mountain dragon named Sky, and they don't need anyone else.

In a world of dragons, the humans who scramble around underfoot are easy to overlook. But Ivy, Leaf, and Wren will each cross paths with dragons in ways that could shape the destiny of both species. Is a new future possible for all of them . . . one in which humans can look to the skies with hope instead of fear?

Quote on Back of Hardcover

This was a pretty terrible plan, saving a baby dragon who would probably eat her just as soon as it was big enough. But Wren had a feeling someone had decided to toss aside this baby dragon, exactly the way her parents and her whole stupid village had thrown her away.

People are awful and untrustworthy and mean, so I'm going to make friends with a dragon instead.

"We don't need anybody else, right, little dragon?" Wren said, stroking one of its tiny ears. "If they don't want us, we don't care. We can look after each other, can't we?"

Plot

Prologue

Twenty years ago, Stone and Rose joined Heath in secret to help him complete his quest to become wealthy and powerful by stealing Queen Oasis's treasure. Stone and Heath waited outside for Rose, who went in a second time to get more treasure. Stone talked to Heath about how treasure would not make him powerful, which Heath disagreed with. Rose climbed back out of the palace, along with the treasure, and the trio began to sneak off. However, before they got very far, Oasis caught up with them. They fought her, and Heath was hit with a burst of fire from Oasis. Stone eventually killed Oasis and won the fight by stabbing her in the eye with his spear. Heath then cut off Oasis's tail barb as proof of her death. Stone noticed that Rose had gone missing but Heath told him that they had to run away because more SandWings were coming their way. They took the treasure and the barb back to their village, but Stone continued to worry about Rose.

Part One

Wren, having recently turned seven, was unknowingly prepared for sacrifice by the dragonmancers by her parents. She found out what they planned to do with her once she was taken through the forest to a river near Talisman. Wren attacked the dragonmancers, but they still managed to tie her up. They left her on a giant stone slab overlooking the river, but she was able to yank off the ropes they tied her up with. She thought back to what happened during the time before her attempted sacrifice, and back to all of the times the people in Talisman had done her wrong. Eventually, she comes across a dragonet for the first time, who was tangled in a bush and close to death. Wren helps him out of pity and then talks to him to reassure him that he was safe and to help herself calm down. As they are talking, a rust-colored dragon with yellow eyes and a recent burn on its cheek flies by, and Wren presumes it was hunting. Wren hides herself and him from the unknown dragon (Kestrel), whom he particularly seemed to be afraid of. Once the dragon leaves, Wren comes out of hiding with him. Wren talks to him again and eventually names him Sky. Wren thinks back to her encounters with humanity, and how she was not scared since Sky, who was a dragon, was on her side, while everyone else was not safe from them if they worked together.

Shortly after Wren's disappearance, Leaf argues with his parents about whether or not the dragonmancers really were good as they could not save Wren. His older sister, Rowan, was also in the room and mentions what she heard about the Dragonslayer from her friend Grove. Leaf's parents begin to argue with Rowan that the Dragonslayer was just a story that 'brainless' families talked about. Ignoring them, Rowan tells Leaf about what the Dragonslayer did, and Leaf immediately wishes to become a dragonslayer himself, but his parents strongly disapprove of the idea.

When Ivy was small, she asked her mother why her dad, Heath, seemed famous. Her mother responded that her dad was famous. She asked if her dad was famous because he 'Dragonstared.' Ivy then asked her why Uncle Stone was yelling at the Dragonslayer for running away from the dragons and her mother told her she would tell her when she was older. Ivy notes that whenever she asked other girls to have a sleepover with her, they rejected saying that the tail could grow back into another dragon, or somebody would sleepwalk into the barb, though everyone invited her to their sleepovers. She then asked her mom whether or not she had seen the treasure. Ivy became suspicious of whether or not her father's story was true when she was just six years old. Her friends, Violet and Daffodil, asked her to join their secret club, The Truth Seekers.

Wren and Sky began to learn each others' language and talked to each other briefly in both languages. The first word Wren learned in dragon was snail since Sky was obsessed with them. They saw the dragonets of destiny (Clay, Tsunami, Glory, Starflight and Sunny) playing with each other in their mountain hideout. Sky seems sad so Wren asked him if he wanted to go with other dragons. To this, he said that he would rather be with Wren. Later, when looking back, Wren realized that he was sad because he could not breathe fire, and realized that his inability to do so was not a dragon thing, but a 'Sky thing.'

Leaf discovered that his second favorite sister was Rowan, who helps Leaf try to become a Dragonslayer by helping him train. Both of them began to speculate how many types of dragons there were. Rowan said there are around six types of dragons known. Leaf and Rowan are forced to take shelter from dragons along with Rowan's friend Grove and a young boy, Butterfly.

When Violet and Daffodil visited, Ivy's mother tried to make an excuse to them that Ivy still had homework but Ivy insisted that she was finished. She was surprised that the Truth Seekers had survived that long, and her friends notes how good she is at drawing different dragons. Ivy stated that she wanted to become a Wingwatcher. Daffodil and Violet talked about the dragon's palace nearby, debunking Heath's latest journey there in the process. During a 'Truth Seekers mission', Ivy ventured outside for the first time in her life, under an excuse to a Wingwatcher, Foxglove, that she was delivering a 'super important present' to her father, which was a potato. When she went outside she described the sky to smell like apples and grass and said it was noisy, and that there was light everywhere. Ivy and Foxglove are interrupted by a black dragon (perceived to be a NightWing), forcing them to take refuge in a pine tree. After some time Foxglove and Ivy went back to Valor, and Foxglove made Ivy promise never to venture outside without a Wingwatcher.

Wren found a sheltered valley and decided that she and Sky would be safe there for a while, as she wanted to go to the Indestructible City to find new clothes, a map, and some books, and recommended that Sky to practice flying for a bit. Wren eventually convinced Sky that it was not safe for him to go to the Indestructible City, so she tried to see if she could get in. After a while, Wren went to the base of the cliff and was then told that there was no space for refugees and that Invincible Lord would only admit one family, consisting of no more than six people, if they brought the Dragonslayer to him. She was told that the Invincible Lord wished to make an alliance with him in order to save the humans from the dragons. Realizing that orphans were handed over to the city, Wren began to leave but ran into Undauntable with his pet cat named Dragon, (which she refused to call Dragon) and wanted to trade silver for one of Sky's scales that he had shed. Wren then traded the silver for food, clothes, and Undauntable's silver earring. When Undauntable asked where she found it, she said she found it in a swamp, which was in the opposite direction to Sky. She said she might bring him another scale if she could find any, and followed to the river until the Indestructible City was out of sight, then immediately returned to Sky.

Leaf received an official dragonmancer's invitation, to his parent's joy and Rowan's amusement. He wondered why no one noticed that he was getting stronger, faster, and more agile, since he supposedly spent all day studying. Leaf was assigned to Master Trout, who does not like that he got a new apprentice. Leaf decided that Master Trout should have been born a tarantula. Cranberry, Mushroom, and Thyme are introduced.

Ivy became an official Wingwatcher. She attended the Wingwatcher welcome ceremony with Violet and Daffodil and see Squirrel and Commander Brook. Ivy and her friends talked about conspiracies until the Dragonslayer arrived. Later, Foxglove advised Ivy not to listen to Chipmunk, who had made sure all his outdoor missions were at night and hardly ever saw a dragon. Ivy thought about the Wingwatcher conspiracy and wondered if someone actually was planning a revolution against her father.

Part Two

Wren and Sky saw a few sea dragons, and Sky suddenly exclaimed that Wren could ride on him. This ended badly, however, as Sky was too small. A year later, Sky was able to safely carry Wren and flew long distances with her on his back. They flew all across the continent as Wren created an incredibly detailed map. Undauntable invited Wren to the Indestructible City, but Wren had no desire to. Wren told Undauntable that he was reasonably interesting and that he was the second most interesting friend she had, not mentioning that she only had two friends.

Leaf shared his blueprint copy with his friends. Grove told Leaf to go back to the dragonmancers after a while and told him that they would decide what to do. Two days later, Rowan visited Leaf in the garden and told him his map copy was gone, and so was Mushroom. Crow and Gorge appeared and ordered them to find Mushroom. They threatened to sacrifice Grove if they failed and then had Grove jailed. Rowan, Leaf, Cranberry, and Thyme set out for the mountain dragon palace after Mushroom. They traveled north towards the dragon palace, searching for Mushroom, but found no trace of him. After four days, they finally found the dragon palace. It was enormous and full of dragons. As Leaf tried to find an entrance, they spotted Mushroom climbing in. They decided to venture into the Sky Palace to help Mushroom.

Foxglove reminded Ivy, Daffodil, and Violet to watch the sky, not to move, and never leave their tree on their own. The girls argued a bit about the secrets they were trying to discover, but were interrupted as an ice dragon crashed nearby. They went to investigate and discovered that Stone used a necklace of invisibility to ride the dragon. Stone explained that he had been searching for Rose. Confused, Ivy asked Stone who Rose was.

Wren returned to the Indestructible City and gave Undauntable another scale. Undauntable said that he knew she had a stash of scales somewhere, and asked her to marry him. Wren was horrified and said no, to his despair. Wren began to leave, but a large sand dragon flew over the city. He loudly taunted the City as all of the humans ran to safety, and eventually flew away. Wren told Undauntable that the dragon was not attacking, and he questioned her on her knowledge about dragons. She quickly left and met up with Sky again, who said he had something to show her. Sky brought her to one of the dragon cities and happily said he wanted to explore it. Wren decided that he could go the next day.

As Leaf and company approached the Sky Palace, they found Mushroom running in their direction, sword and treasure in hand. Rowan attempted to get Mushroom to return to Talisman with them, but he refused. A crimson mountain dragon caught up with them, and Leaf attempted to kill it by stabbing it with his sword, but it bounced off of the dragon's scales. Many other mountain dragons surrounded them, one wearing a crown and chain mail, and Mushroom threw treasure at Thyme to escape, but the queen chased him. The remaining mountain dragons captured Leaf, Cranberry, Thyme, and Rowan, and Leaf passed out due to lack of oxygen.

Ivy, Violet, and Daffodil went to Stone's cave to talk about Rose. Stone explained that Rose was his sister who was left behind when they stole Queen Oasis's treasure, and how the act caused the destruction of the old village and the "wrath" of dragons on scavengers. Ivy, Violet, and Daffodil then try to think of a way to calm down the dragons and came up with a plan to return the stolen treasure to the sand dragons to calm them down.

Wren reluctantly allowed Sky to visit the dragon city, Possibility. She told Sky not to speak Human, not to act weird in front of any dragons and to avoid suspicion. She ordered him to be back by midday, or else she would come looking for him. Wren waited for him, but he had not returned by midday. Wren waited for the rest of the afternoon, but by sundown, she decided that she would go into the city to find her friend.

Leaf became conscious again inside of a pit filled with various animals, including Rowan, Cranberry, Thyme, Cardinal, Arbutus, and one unnamed man. Cardinal explained that they were in a food storage pit in the kitchens and that the mountain dragon queen liked to watch arena fights, so they might be taken there instead of being eaten. Leaf explained to Rowan about his failure to stab the dragon, but he could not guess why he could not stab it. Eventually, a mountain dragon came into the storage pit and carried out Thyme, but another snatched Leaf.

Ivy and her friends tried to find out where the Dragonslayer's treasure is. Violet discovered he never paid for items in the market, instead paying with a system of favors. Daffodil spoke to her grandmother, Valor's oldest resident, who (according to Daffodil) spent the meeting criticizing Daffodil's clothing. Her grandmother also denied having seen the treasure since the day Heath and Stone brought it back. Ivy searched her home thoroughly but found no sign of the treasure. The girls met in Violet's cave and wondered where the treasure could be if it was not in the Dragonslayer's home. Ivy realized the old village would be the perfect place and would explain why he had banned going there. Ivy wanted to go by herself, but Violet and Daffodil bribe Foxglove and Squirrel into helping them. Ivy found out the Wingwatchers had a system so they could visit the old village without being caught. Ivy and her friends are shocked to see the ruined village. After Foxglove made them swear to secrecy, they discovered that Pine and Azalea, banished Wingwatchers, had been searching the ruins for the treasure but not found it. Ivy used what she knew about her father to figure out which house to search. They found a sapphire in the chimney, but Heath had moved the rest of the treasure.

Wren waited until night to enter the city. She overheard two dragons arguing, and realized that Sky had been sold to SandWing soldiers. Wren climbed a tower to find the soldiers' camp, and made it there just before dawn. Sky was there, locked up. General Sandstorm announced to his soldiers that they were going to fight IceWings, and the army flew away, taking Sky with them.

Leaf was taken to a kitchen full of frantic dragons. He noticed the dragons show emotions, similar to humans, which confused him greatly. There are "approximately eight hundred zillion dragons" who want to eat him. He saw the massive amount of treasure, and realized they might have been able to steal some. Leaf was dumped in the middle of a party with other terrified animals and quickly had to avoid being eaten. He found Thyme and helped him to hide under a table, but Leaf wanted to get back to Rowan. He snuck away from the party and began to climb a cliff. He climbed for most of the night but ultimately collapsed on a ledge. In the morning, Leaf tried to climb further but was too exhausted. He did not get far before he was scooped up by a brown dragon (Clay) and deposited at the top of the cliff.

Ivy, Daffodil, and Violet show Stone the sapphire. He says Heath did not like it because it gave him nightmares about the dragons, and was likely the only thing that made him feel guilty. Suddenly, the Dragonslayer enters, and Ivy hides the gem under blankets. Foxglove lies and says they were caught out in the rain and they came to visit Stone, as he was close by. He tells them they should not leave the caves. Ivy notices her father is acting strangely. He leaves the house and tells both Ivy and her mother not to leave. Ivy realizes her mother does not give Heath "hero-worship eyes" anymore. Her mother tells her the lord of the Indestructible City wants Heath to work on them. Ivy knows her father never will, as he enjoys being lord too much, and is secretly a coward. Ivy convinces her mother to go to the meeting even though her father told her not to. Daffodil and Violet arrive and announce they will search the place even though Ivy already has. Daffodil asks how she lives with the tail barb, and Ivy says she avoids it. They realize she also avoided it while searching. They discovered the pedestal was secretly a safe, with a four-letter combination. The girls guess every four-letter word they can think of relating to dragons and treasure, but none of them work. Lark, Rose, and Ivy's also do not work. They try the word mine, and it does open. They do not touch the treasure, instead, shutting the safe again until they work out their plan.

The mud dragon holding Leaf had a kind face and held him gently, then set him down on the top of the cliff he was climbing, shocking and confusing Leaf. He enters the palace to find Rowan and sees the mountain dragon queen, injured and alone in her gold-filled throne room. Several sand dragons carry her away. He took a thread from a sack made by dragons to use as a rope and help the others escape when a dark red dragonet sees him. The baby dragon gets the attention of an adult dragon, who gives the key to the food pit to Leaf, allowing him to help Rowan and the others escape. Thyme has ended up back with them. Cranberry says she and Rowan had to fight a blue dragon (Tsunami) and a black dragon (Starflight) in the arena. Rowan confesses to Leaf that Wren was sacrificed. He is angry at her for lying and says he will not return to Talisman. He decides he is going to find the Dragonslayer.

Part Three

Wren tries following the army to get to Sky, which is going poorly as she has to walk very slowly on the ground, while they fly overhead. She follows them to the Ice Kingdom, but by the time she reaches it they are already flying back. She gets to the dragon city, but they are already flying back to the palace. She steals from the dragons, feeling like a mouse, taking crumbs and hiding. She could not find a map to the sand dragon's palace, or of their kingdom. She wonders if she can convince a dragon to take her to the palace. She stole what was probably a dagger to a dragon, but was a large sword to her. She looked for a solitary dragon and found one, a black dragon named Deathbringer who was reading a scroll and avoiding attention. A sand dragon arrives and brings him another scroll, saying it is his new assignment. Wren, watching him read his orders, thinks he looks like Sky when trying to find a loophole. She approaches him and demands he take her to the desert palace. The dragon is unsurprisingly confused by a human speaking Dragon and thinks he is hallucinating. She tells him her name is Wren, and he tells Wren his, which she mistranslates as Murderbasket. She asks again for him to fly her through the desert. When he says he is too busy, she does not accept his answer. She tells him it will take him only half a day to fly there while her walking will take much longer, and that she can tell he does not like his mission anyway. She also shows him her sword, and accidentally cuts him. He finally accepts that she is, after all, real, and agrees to take her to the desert, even though it is dangerous.

Ivy and her friends are trying to think of a way to return the treasure to the dragons without getting eaten. They were now allowed on missions again, as her father was no longer in a bad mood. They are in a tree and see a trio of SkyWings. They also see a boy running through the forest. The dragons are chasing him, and Ivy throws an apple to distract them and runs to the boy and brings him into the underground city. He introduces himself to them and Foxglove as Leaf and says he is looking for the Dragonslayer. Ivy thinks he is looking for someone to save his village from a dragon when he says he wants to learn to kill one.

Leaf finally found Valor. Ivy walks with him and points out different parts of the city. He asks why they are the only ones wearing green, and she explains they are Wingwatchers. Leaf is happy to learn they are nothing like dragonmancers. He tells Ivy his sister was eaten by dragons, then admits she was sacrificed. Ivy is as horrified as Leaf by this knowledge. Leaf cannot go after the dragonmancers, so he is sticking to his plan of dragon-slaying. Ivy causes him to wonder if dragons can grieve, after suggesting other dragons might take revenge. Ivy then introduces Leaf to her father. He gives Heath a message from the Indestructible City, not realizing it is a threat. He is then sent away. Wren's voice in his head compares the Dragonslayer to a dragonmancer. Ivy brings him to Stone, where he can stay. Stone tells him the Dragonslayer's story is different than he thinks, but will not tell it to him.

Wren arrives in the palace after being flown there by Murderbasket (aka Deathbringer). They have a short conversation, and she accidentally stabs him again. They agree never to mention each other again. Wren begins her search for Sky. She was seen by dragons a few times, but they seemed not to mind her presence. She also heard a dragon shouting loud, violent threats. She thought the tower containing the roaring dragon could be where prisoners were kept, but when food was brought in there was only enough for one dragon. She found the soldier's barracks. General Sandstorm entered and shouted for Prince Smolder, asking when Queen Burn would return and he could give Sky to her. Wren noticed the general was giving orders to a Prince, which seemed strange to her. From what the dragon had said she knew he was keeping Sky alive. She noticed most dragons seemed annoyed by Sandstorm. She followed him to where Sky was and waited for him to leave, then ran to Sky. She cannot release him without the general's key, so decides she will have to kill him.

Daffodil wakes Ivy up, telling her Wingwatchers are being arrested. Heath has been paranoid since Leaf arrived. Her mother seems afraid. Daffodil and Ivy sneak out and realize just how many people the Dragonslayer has hired to be soldiers. She convinces the soldier to let her into Foxglove's cave and smuggles out the sapphire. She then runs away from the city with Daffodil.

Leaf woke up just before somebody knocked on Stone's door. Stone had him hide in a cabinet while he answered the door. The people outside said they were going to arrest Leaf, and Stone told them he had sent him to get water. They tell him that he will be arrested unless they get Leaf. They wait outside the door for him to return. Stone shows Leaf to a secret tunnel, and they escape Valor. Stone blocks the tunnel behind them before they go. Stone admits he was the one who killed the dragon and tells Leaf about Rose, explaining why Heath wanted to get rid of him. Leaf realizes how horrible the Dragonslayer really is as they head to the old village. They meet Ivy and Daffodil and learn Wingwatchers were also being arrested. Ivy tells him about their plan to return the treasure, and he tells her about being rescued by the brown dragon and that Stone killed the sand dragon queen, not her dad. They see Sunny checking out the ruins, and Leaf mentions seeing a dragon like her caged in the mountain palace, not realizing it is the same dragon. Ivy says she wants to convince her dad to release the Wingwatchers.

Wren tries to figure out how to kill the sand dragon general. She decides to poison him. Wren has seen lots of mice and no cats, so she decides the kitchens might have rat poison. She is right, and in the kitchens meets another human, Rose. Rose tells Wren she lives there, to her surprise. Wren realizes why the dragons had ignored her running around the palace. Rose has not talked to another human for a very long time and is excited to have a conversation, and offers to help Wren collect mouse poison. Rose asks why she is killing Sandstorm and realizes Wren can speak Dragon. Wren hid in Sandstorm's room and poisoned his drink. A messenger bursts in after he finishes it, telling him they are under attack. Sandstorm left to fight, and Wren watches the battle from the roof of the palace. The general collapses in the middle of the battlefield, dead.

A day after the Wingwatchers are arrested, Heath's guards come through the old village, peering up chimneys and poking spears through piles of leaves, seemingly searching for the others who were hiding nearby. Pine had taken Ivy and Daffodil to an old temple where most of the banished villagers hid at first farther off into the woods. The next day, Forest comes through the old village, informing Ivy and Daffodil that most of the Wingwatchers were arrested, including his mom, Commander Brook. Heath had called a mandatory meeting, telling the residents of Valor that the Indestructible Lord had set a price on his head and that the Wingwatchers had been plotting against him for years, and that Leaf was an assassin who was sent to kill him. However, Daffodil interrupts, saying what the Wingwatchers were actually planning to do was to hold an election to see if Valor would be interested in a different leader. When Ivy asks whether Violet and the others are alright, Forest says Heath plans to capture Leaf so he can execute him and the Wingwatchers altogether. Ivy and Daffodil try to brainstorm ideas to stop Heath, but to no avail. Ivy then goes to sleep with the dreamvisitor, picturing Sunny in her mind and dreamvisiting her as a result, seeing Sunny with Rose on her shoulder in her dreams. Ivy wakes up afterwards and tells Stone that she thinks Rose is alive.

Ivy tells everyone about her dream, suggesting riding to the desert palace to rescue Rose, and eventually, Stone reluctantly agrees. Leaf and Ivy sets off to the old village's ruins, and then Sunny steps out of the shadows, sticking Ivy and Leaf up on top of a stone wall and Sunny asks them for the whereabouts of the SandWing treasure. Ivy then gives Sunny her dreamvisitor and Leaf volunteers to get the treasure. Leaf finds Stone's secret escape tunnel, entering Valor through the tunnel. Leaf then quickly knocks on Heath's home, and Lark opens the door, fabricating that there was some trouble down by the lake and were asking for the Dragonslayer and Lark. A few moments later, Heath storms away from his home. Leaf explains to Lark that he needed Heath's treasure to keep Ivy safe, and Leaf opens the lock to Heath's cabinet of treasure and puts it in a canvas bag, with Lark helping him. Leaf makes it back to Stone's cave and drags the bag with the treasure through the tunnel.

Ivy and Sunny regard each other and Ivy asks where Rose is, much to Sunny's confusion, because she does not understand what Ivy means. Sunny then seizes Ivy in her talons and sets Ivy on her shoulders and leaps into the sky, and Ivy flies through the sky, riding on Sunny's back. As Sunny flies back towards the ruins, Leaf comes back with the treasure and gives it to Sunny, but Sunny is unable to find the specific treasure she was looking for (the Eye of Onyx). Sunny takes the treasure back, including the dreamvisitor and flies away despite Ivy asking about the whereabouts of Rose. Ivy and Leaf go back to the temple, telling Daffodil what happened and then Stone suddenly appears next to the temple, having stolen horses from Valor to ride to the desert palace. However, Stone only managed to get three, and as a result, Daffodil stayed behind to keep an eye on Violet and the other Wingwatchers as Stone, Leaf, and Ivy rode off to the desert palace.

The dragons fighting in the desert had ended up inside the desert palace and had eventually flown away, and afterwards, more dragons had arrived at the palace, including Burn. Meanwhile, the key to Sky's chains were still outside the palace with Sandstorm's corpse, and Wren tries to pick the lock, but to no avail. Eventually, Sky suggests asking the human who lived in the palace, Rose, for help. Wren finds her when as she tries to climb the giant wall from the courtyard, and asks what the dragons were fighting over earlier. Rose replies that she think they came to get this one prisoner (Sunny) and that another prisoner left too (Scarlet). Wren then tells Rose she is trying to get the key with Sandstorm, and Rose tells her that her dragon (Smolder) had a copy of all the keys in the castle, and offers to get it from him. Wren then calls Smolder by his name, and Rose finds out that Wren can speak Dragon. In exchange for the key, Rose asks Wren to teach her how to speak Dragon, and Wren reluctantly agrees.

Ivy, Leaf, and Stone arrive at the desert palace. Leaf asks how to get into the palace and Stone starts to go in alone, but Ivy stops him, insisting they all come together. Stone puts his invisibility chain over Ivy, saying that he is not losing another family member to this place. As Ivy runs on towards the gate of the palace, she sights two dragon guards outside the gate, noticing they were both very tense and on the verge of fighting with each other. She silently scoops sand and pebbles into the pockets of her cloak and blows it into the face of the dragon on her opposite side, causing them to snarl furiously at each other and start fighting with each other, eventually prompting one of the dragons to call for a different guard in his place. She then drapes the invisibility chain over all of their necks and sneak back to the gate. Ivy, Leaf, and Stone travel through the palace and eventually enter the kitchen, and a dragon hunched over the counter suddenly sees them and Ivy tries to drape the invisibility chain over Leaf and Stone, but the dragon swoops up Stone in her talons and toss him in a net bag, storming out of the kitchen. They race after the dragon to see her shout at Smolder, who shrugs and points to Rose in the corner. Stone rejoices over finding Rose alive and asks her why the other dragon did not eat him, and Rose says that she probably thought Stone was her, and brought him to yell at Smolder, not realizing that Rose was with Smolder and she had picked up a wild human instead. Ivy and Leaf introduce themselves, and when Ivy says she has come to rescue Rose, Rose claims she does not need rescuing and she does not want to leave, saying "Why would I want to go back to the people who spent my whole life telling me what to do and who to be and what not to do and what was wrong with me?" Stone argues that the dragons cannot be trusted, but Rose replies "What makes you think humans can?" Stone retorts that the dragons had burned down the village, and Ivy says she thinks they were looking for something, and Rose deduces that it is in one of the bags she put the treasure in, two of which Stone and Heath had left behind. She says she would try to retrieve the treasure and mentions how thanks to Wren she knows a little bit of Dragon, and Leaf realizes that she is referring to his sister and says he has to go after her immediately.

Leaf asks Rose how long ago since Wren left, and Rose answers that it has been long enough that they do not have a chance of catching up to her on foot or on horseback. She tells them that Leaf need to ride another dragon to get to Wren, and suggests using Sweetface (Cereus) to do so since she is fond of humans. Stone tries to talk Leaf out of it, calling it idiotic, but he is unable to do so and gets teased by Ivy and Rose. Leaf notices that being around Rose is bringing down some of the walls around Stone and they climb to the top of a tower where Rose expects Sweetface to be at. Ivy gives the invisibility chain to Leaf and promises Leaf that she will help look for Wren if he does not find her, and Leaf promises in turn to come back for her and free her friends. They share a kiss with each other just as Rose spots Sweetface and Ivy and Stone go back down the stairs. Rose gets Sweetface's attention when she lands and Leaf uses the opportunity to climb onto her back, while being invisible. Sweetface is confused at why she can feel someone on her back, but Rose bursts into song to distract her. Thinking nothing of it, Sweetface flies off to do her rounds. After flying around for a little while, Leaf and Sweetface see Sky in the distance. Sweetface turns around to return to the Sandwing stronghold, but Leaf calls out to Wren and digs his feet into her shoulder in an attempt to turn her around. This backfires and she hits him off with the side of her tail after some struggling. As Leaf falls to the ground, he uses his last coherent thought to take off the invisible chain around his neck.

Sky and Wren hear the commotion behind them and spots something falling from the sand dragon. Thinking that it might be Rose, Sky flies over to save her. Sweetface, after she stops writhing in the air, also sees the figure falling and dives after them. She catches the human just before they hit the ground and Wren finds out that it is not Rose after landing. Leaf sees Wren and he immediately rushes over to hug her, tears in his eyes. He confirms to her that their parents and the dragonmancers lied about her fate and that Rowan tried to save her. Leaf also tells her about his time in the mountain palace and Wren introduces Sky to Leaf, shocking Leaf when Sky reveals that he can speak human language. Leaf wants to fly back to the palace and give the invisibility chain to Ivy so she can escape with Stone, but Wren does not want to risk Sky being captured again. She attempts to convince Sweetface to help them, but Sweetface does not take her seriously and finds her "dragon noises" adorable. She relays her instructions through Sky instead and, after Wren and Leaf learn that Sweetface's real name is Cereus (which Wren thought was not as good of a name as Sweetface), and she agrees to help them. Wren and Leaf agree to meet in the forest below the mountains before they split up again.

Some time later, Wren, Leaf, Ivy, Stone, and Sky all return to the temple where Daffodil is sitting on the steps. The group learns that more of the residents in Valor are getting restless and upset with Heath, and Daffodil thinks that he might start executing people soon even if Leaf is not captured. Ivy comes up with a plan to force Heath to step down and free everybody he arrested and she, Wren, Leaf, and Sky all hike to the underground city. They reach the biggest entrance to Valor and Ivy notes that nobody is guarding it, believing that most of Heath's men were guarding him instead of the city. With the tunnel too small for Sky to get in, he digs at the entrance until the opening is wide enough for him to squeeze in. Soon after entering, he was spotted and the residents start screaming and panicking. Ivy tells Forest to get everyone into the main hall and soon, around three-quarters of the people in Valor were packed into the cave, huddled together in fear. She tells one of the residents to fetch Heath. After a long moment, Heath is pushed into the cave, holding a sword, but visibly shaking and deeply afraid. Sky roars at him and he immediately drops his sword and crumbles to the ground. Ivy announces that Sky is looking for the man who murdered the queen (Oasis), and Heath immediately confesses that he is a fraud and Stone is the real dragonslayer, shocking the city. Ivy demands that he also returns the stolen treasure, but Heath refuses, saying that the treasure belongs to him. Lark is the one to bring the treasure instead and Ivy names Brook as the new lord of Valor, much to her surprise. As the townspeople began to celebrate, Ivy finds Heath near the exit, depressed, and tries to comfort him. He says that without his title and the treasure, he is nothing. Lark says he is more lucky than he deserves if losing the treasure is the worst punishment he gets after everything he has done. She tries to go home with Ivy, but she refuses. Ivy does not want to stay after everything she has seen outside and says that she is going to change the world.

Wren, Cranberry, Thyme, Leaf, Ivy, and Sky then arrive at Tailsman, where the entire town was celebrating Dragonmancer Appreciation Day. Wren and Sky land into the town square, horrifying the townspeople and the dragonmancers. Leaf and Ivy move around the outskirts of the village and climb to the roof of the jail. Wren exposes the dragonmancers being treasure smugglers, the fact that their visions are fake, and that they sacrificed the fourth dragonmancer to the dragons to increase their share of stolen treasure. Crow tries to deny it, but backs down quickly after Sky snarls at her. Leaf notes that it is the most ferocious look he has ever seen on Sky, knowing that he is genuinely furious. Trout also attempts to discredit Wren, calling it the "mad ramblings of a bitter teenager," but Wren is quick to threaten him with Sky, and says that she will be happy to show everyone the treasure-share logbook they were using. After Sky growls at them again, Gorge tosses the keys to Wren and she give it to Cranberry, who unlocks the door before throwing them up to Leaf, where he also unlocks the jail and frees Rowan and Grove. Cranberry then emerges from the house with the logbook in hand, giving it to Wren, where Wren reads and explains its contents to the entire village. After reading the last book, Wren says that she does not care what happens to the dragonmancers, but she threatens to burn down the village and take the children somewhere safe if any more of the kids go missing. She then gives the book to Butterfly and puts him in charge, having had enough of Talisman. As the group was about to leave, Leaf and Wren's parents try to talk to them, but Wren tells them off and the others ignore them. The group moves away from Talisman and stop by the river a while later. Grove wonders what they were all going to do now. Leaf and Wren propose that they would build a town where people that had their villages burned down would be welcomed and be protected. Ivy also says they can tell them that they can communicate with dragons and that there's hope for peace. Cranberry and Rowan agree to the idea, although Rowan wonders whether Leaf, Wren, and Ivy would help build it with them. Wren and Leaf say that they will help when they come back after they try out a new idea for their destiny. Ivy adds that they "have a little golden dragon to find."

Epilogue

The epilogue is in the point of view of Undauntable. He was looking outside his window hoping that Wren would come back to the Indestructible City. It was around fifty-nine days since he proposed to Wren, who did not accept it and stormed away from him. He was worried that maybe she was killed by a dragon, like he always did whenever a dragon flew by. He even wondered what would happen if he ran away with her, only to dismiss that idea because it was much safer inside the walls of The Indestructible City. His father then found him and beckoned for him to follow. Once he did, his father said that the spy, Boar, who was sent into Valor to become a close guard to him, said that Heath was not the actual Dragonslayer and that Stone was, but Stone was a lost cause. Boar then said he had very 'interesting news.' The news was about a girl who could speak Dragon and had a dragon who she controls. Undauntable realized that this was Wren. He was terrified for her, admitting that he did love her because she free and was everything the Indestructible City was not.

After Boar left the room, the Invincible Lord noticed that Boar had said the dragon's scales were a pale orange, which was the same color of the scales Wren had given Undauntable during her visits, which he was now wearing. Undauntable lied about where he got the scales when his father asked. His father could tell he was lying because he was always terrible at lying and ends the epilogue by saying that he will control Wren and take over the world. The book also ends with Undauntable swearing he will protect Wren for as long as he can.

Mistakes

• On the English cover, Sandstorm has a pink tongue despite SandWings having black forked tongues.
• On the English cover, General Sandstorm's eyes appear to be blackish blue‐gray, even though SandWing eyes are black.
• In some copies, the map on the front of the book is misprinted as the map from Darkstalker.
• In A Wingwatcher's Guide to Dragons, ice dragons are described as having "silver scales like the moon" even though there are three moons.
• A sentence reads, "Tears! She hadn't even know dragons could cry, much less over food!" Know should say known instead.
• Rowan flashes pity toward Leaf because he "couldn't stop talking about Wren" in the present tense even though he had not; Grove was the only one he had referred to in the present tense.
• A sentence reads, "[...] wondering if this was the first time she'd ever seen her mother disobey one of her father's orders, or if had happened before without her noticing." It should say, "[...] wondering if this was the first time she'd ever seen her mother disobey one of her father's orders, or if it had happened before without her noticing."
• Heath referred to hands as talons during the Wingwatcher welcome ceremony.

Trivia

• The SandWing on the cover has been confirmed to be Sandstorm in an interview with Tui on November 2nd, 2019.

Gallery

Click here to see the cover gallery.

References

fr:Tueurs de Dragons de:Dragonslayer (Buch) ru:Драконоборец