Dragonslayer

While Leaf is gone, Ivy attempts to communicate with the golden dragon about Rose. The dragon suddenly places Ivy on its shoulder and takes flight. Ivy is filled with wonder as they soar over the landscape, gaining a new perspective on how small Valor’s problems are compared to the vast world. The dragon lands as Leaf returns with the treasure.

The dragon dumps out the treasure and searches through it with growing distress, clearly seeking a specific item that is not there. She roars in frustration. Ivy comforts her by patting her talon, and the dragon seems to understand, strengthening Ivy’s belief that communication between species is possible. When Ivy asks about Rose again, the dragon collects the treasure, bows politely, pats their heads, and flies away eastward. She does not return.

Stone reappears with three horses obtained using his invisibility necklace. He could not get a fourth for Daffodil, who agrees to stay behind in case Violet needs rescuing. Ivy, Leaf, and Stone ride toward the desert palace. Ivy reflects on her experience with the golden dragon, feeling hopeful that not all dragons are hostile monsters.

The SandWing palace is in chaos after a battle and the arrival of Queen Burn. Wren worries that Sky, still chained in General Sandstorm’s room, will be discovered. She needs the key from Sandstorm’s body in the desert, but she and Sky cannot break the chains. Sky suggests asking Rose, the human who lives in the palace, for help.

Wren searches for Rose and attempts to scale the outer wall, but finds it covered in spikes and glass. Rose appears and explains that the new queen built the human-proof walls. Rose describes recent fighting in which attackers rescued a small golden dragon prisoner. The other prisoner, who was always roaring threats, also escaped.

When Wren mentions needing the key, Rose reveals that her dragon, Prince Smolder, keeps copies of all palace keys around his neck. Rose is astonished to learn that Wren knows her dragon’s real name and can speak the dragon language. Wren decides to trust Rose and tells her about Sky being chained up. Rose promises to help retrieve the key from Smolder in exchange for Wren teaching her some Dragon. Though Wren wants to escape quickly, she agrees to teach Rose a little if Rose can get the key while Wren stays with Sky.

Ivy, Leaf, and Stone arrive at the desert palace. Stone notes that a new, higher outer wall has been built. He intends to go in alone using his invisibility necklace, but Ivy tackles the invisible Stone to stop him. Stone relents and gives the necklace to Ivy, making her promise to wear it for safety.

Invisible, Ivy scouts the gate and provokes a fight between two guards by throwing sand and pebbles, causing one to storm inside and leave the gate ajar. Ivy links all three of them with the chain to make them invisible, and they sneak into the palace. Once inside, Stone resettles the chain so only Ivy is invisible as they search. In the kitchen, a dragon discovers them and captures Stone in a net bag, carrying him to Prince Smolder’s lavish suite.

Ivy and Leaf sneak in behind. The kitchen dragon confronts Smolder, who points to Rose standing on a pile of pillows. The kitchen dragon, shocked to find Rose already present, drops Stone. After the kitchen dragon leaves, Rose speaks to Smolder in broken Dragon, and he departs, amused. Ivy reveals herself as Rose’s niece. Stone and Rose have an emotional reunion.

Ivy and Stone urge Rose to return to Valor with them, but Rose refuses, explaining that she is happy in the palace and has no desire to return to a life of being controlled by men. Rose is skeptical that her presence would improve Heath. When told that dragons are burning villages, Rose reveals that Heath and Stone left two bags of treasure behind during their heist. She agrees to try to retrieve the hidden treasure but insists she must remain in the palace to do so.

Rose mentions learning Dragon from a girl named Wren. Leaf reacts strongly to the name. Rose describes Wren as fierce, about 14, with her own dragon, and says they flew east toward the mountains earlier. Leaf realizes it must be his sister and declares he must pursue her immediately.

Leaf feels he has found his true destiny: finding Wren. Rose suggests he needs to ride a dragon to catch her. Despite Stone’s objections, Ivy points out that Stone himself has ridden a dragon. Leaf agrees. Rose leads them to a tower where a night-patrol dragon she calls Sweetface is stationed. Leaf observes that Rose’s presence seems to soften Stone’s harsh demeanor.

After climbing the exhausting staircase, Ivy gives Leaf the invisibility necklace, and they share a kiss. When Sweetface lands, Rose distracts her with greetings and dancing while the invisible Leaf scrambles onto the dragon’s back. Sweetface is confused by the sensation but distracted by another arriving dragon. She leaps into the air with Leaf clinging to her spine.

Leaf realizes he cannot steer her, but they are heading east toward the mountains. In the distance, he spots another dragon with a person on its back. Sweetface flies toward it but veers away at the last moment to return to the palace. Leaf frantically tries to turn her back, shouting Wren’s name. Agitated, Sweetface strikes him with her tail, knocking him off. As he falls, Leaf yanks the invisibility necklace from his head.

Sky, a small orange mountain dragon, hears someone shout Wren’s name. He looks back to see a sand dragon behaving erratically and dropping something. Concerned it might be Rose, Sky flies at full speed, with Wren on his back, toward the falling figure. The sand dragon, Sweetface, catches the person just before impact. The two dragons and two humans meet on the ground.

The fallen person is not Rose but a boy Wren’s age who recognizes her and reveals that he is her brother, Leaf. Wren is stunned. Leaf hugs her and tells her he thought she was dead. He explains that their sister Rowan recently revealed the truth about Wren’s sacrifice and that Rowan tried to stop their parents. Rowan feels responsible because she told their mother about a book Wren stole from the dragonmancers. Wren confesses that she thought she was sacrificed simply for being annoying. Leaf assures her he never stopped missing her and recounts his entire journey, including training as a dragonslayer and riding Sweetface to find her.

Moved, Wren introduces him to Sky, who speaks in human and shocks Leaf. Wren asks Sweetface to take Leaf back to the palace and help the others escape. Sweetface is patronizingly amused by Wren’s attempts at speaking dragon, treating her like a trained pet, but agrees to help. Leaf and Wren agree to meet in the burned village in a few days. Leaf promises to search relentlessly if she does not appear. After he flies off with Sweetface, Sky tells Wren he is glad she has found other marvelous humans, and Wren agrees.

Ivy, Leaf, and Stone return to the ruins and meet Wren and Sky. Daffodil excitedly announces that she rode Sky. Stone dryly greets Wren as another dragon-befriending “lunatic.” Ivy asks for news from Valor. Daffodil reports what Forest has told her: Heath’s support is weakening, and he may soon execute the imprisoned Wingwatchers. Wren offers to help take down the Dragonslayer, and Ivy shares a risky new plan.

Ivy, Wren, and Sky go to Valor’s main entrance, a tunnel that Sky enlarges so he can fit inside. Confronted with a dragon, the citizens panic and flee to the main hall. Ivy sends someone to fetch Heath, claiming the dragon has a message. When Heath and his mercenaries arrive, he is visibly terrified. Sky roars massively on cue. Heath collapses, drops his sword, and apologizes. Ivy announces that the dragon seeks justice for the murdered queen. In an attempt to escape punishment, Heath confesses to the entire city that Stone, not he, killed the queen. The crowd gasps, and his mercenaries abandon him.

Ivy declares the dragons demand the treasure’s return and that Heath must step down as lord of Valor. Her mother, Lark, offers to retrieve the treasure on condition that the Wingwatchers are freed. The prisoners, including Violet and Foxglove, are released. Lark returns with a sack of fake treasure. Ivy nominates Commander Brook as the new lord, and the citizens cheer in agreement. Sky and Wren depart with the sack.

As the city celebrates, Ivy finds her father, who feels he is nothing now. She tells him he is still her dad. Lark tells Heath he is lucky and will be happier. Ivy tells her mother she cannot stay in Valor anymore. She resolves to go into the world with her friends to find kind dragons and forge peace between species.

Wren and Sky arrive in Talisman during the Dragonmancer Appreciation Day festival. The villagers freeze in terror. Wren confronts Master Trout, one of the three dragonmancers. Leaf and Ivy watch from the trees with Cranberry and Thyme, allies who informed them that Rowan, Leaf’s older sister, had been jailed while trying to bargain for Grove’s life.

Wren reveals that the dragonmancers were originally members of a group of four treasure smugglers. The three current dragonmancers murdered the fourth member of their group to gain power and avoid splitting the loot. They then established a tradition of sacrificing their apprentices to steal the treasure those apprentices retrieved. Master Trout dismisses her as “hysterical,” but Sky menaces him until he shrieks in fear. Wren has Gorge, another dragonmancer, hand over the keys to the dragonmancers’ jail. Leaf uses them to free Rowan and an ailing Grove.

Cranberry brings the dragonmancers’ record books, and Wren reads passages proving their crimes. She gives the books to a young boy named Butterfly and warns the villagers that she will return if any more children disappear. Leaf and Wren’s parents step forward, but Wren rejects them completely before flying away. Leaf and Rowan also ignore their parents and ride away.

By a river, Rowan apologizes to Wren for telling on her about the stolen book. After teasing her, Wren forgives Rowan. Sky speaks in human, astonishing everyone. The group discusses building a new town for refugees with the dragonmancers’ stolen treasure. Rowan asks Leaf, Wren, and Ivy to help, but they decline, explaining they are on a quest to find the golden dragon and promote peace between humans and dragons.

Undauntable, wearing uncomfortable spiked clothing, watches from the throne room window for Wren’s return. It has been 59 days since he proposed and she left. He reflects on his fear of the dangerous outside world and his confusion over why Wren chooses it over the safety of the Indestructible City.

His father, the Invincible Lord, summons him. A mercenary named Boar arrives to report on Valor. Boar explains that the Dragonslayer was disgraced after confessing that he was not the true hero. More significantly, a dragon appeared in Valor working with a girl who rode on its back and seemed to control it. Boar describes the dragon as a pale, washed-out orange color.

Undauntable is shocked, realizing the description matches the scales Wren has been giving him for years. The Invincible Lord dismisses everyone but Undauntable and demands to know where he obtained his matching dragon scales. Torn between pleasing his father and protecting Wren, Undauntable chooses to protect her, knowing his father would crush her spirit. He lies, claiming he bought the scales from an old woman. His father calls him a terrible liar. The Invincible Lord vows to find the girl who controls dragons, declaring that with her power, he will conquer the world.