Wings of Fire Fanfiction: Rise of the DeathWings



Wings of Fire Fan Fiction - Rise of the DeathWings

ALLEGIANCES

DEATHWINGS-

          SHADOW: ''Mainscales are varying shades of gray, pale gray underbelly and wing membranes. Red eyes, has tiny scratches and torn ear (female)''

''  membranes. Red eyes, has tiny scratches and a torn ear  (female)''

TORMENT:  Shadow’s brother, darker gray with piercing eyes, reddish-gray wingng membranes and horns, scarred face  (male)

RAVEN: ''Shadow and Torment’s mother, dark gray with black topscales and longng black spikes. Bright red eyes and ugly scratch on shoulder  (female)''

STRIKE: ''Shadow’s friend, gray with a slight tint of red. Large wings and broad shoulders (male)''

shoulders, dark red spikes and horns  (male)

AGONY: ''Massive, with almost black scales, dotted with lighter underscales. Long scratch going through her belly, and a scar across her eye  (female)''

STORM: Reddish-gray with dark gray splotches like ash,  cracked horns and a slashed snout, eyes are the color of blood (female)

slashed snout, eyes are the color of blood  (female)

BLADE: Small, muscular figure, with a long tail and metallic pale gray scales (male)

(male)

SANDWINGS-

   CACTUS: Bulky, dull yellow, adorned with jewelry and a golden crown (male)

   CHAR: Smaller than usual, with muscular arms and a thick tail, scales the color of dust (male)

of dust, arched back and a missing wing (male)

WITHER: light golden-brown, with splotches of dark brown and a silver hoop earring (female)

earring (female)

JACKAL: pale brown strong-looking soldier with black specks and a leather arm band (male)

band, piercing black eyes (male)

CARACAL: light yellow, giant soldier with a wide wingspan and thick tail, has a leather arm band (female)

leather band and stripes on tail and neck (female)

MAMBA: Sand-yellow dragon with a black diamond pattern running down his back (male)

neck and spine (male)

ICEWINGS-

   BLIZZARD: Blue like a pale sky with white dapples like clouds, giant spikes (female)

going across her neck (female)

   FLURRY: White, with pale gray-blue speckles dotted across her body and wings, small wings and large dark eyes (female)

small wings and kind blue eyes (female)

PROLOGUE

Many years ago...

Scorch fiddled with the clay figurine in his talons. It was a carving he'd made himself, of a broad-shouldered large dragon with spikes along its back and spines across its tail. Nobody but Scorch knew the power in this little wood carving. Nobody knew how it could change their lives forever. The dragons who had wronged him would regret it the most, once they saw Scorch's power.

Cupping the figure tightly in his claws, pulling it close to his face, he whispered, "Enchant this figurine so that the moment it hits the ground, a tribe of assassins will be born. Two dragons, just like this carving, clearing the way for more of the species to rise, seeking revenge upon my enemies." Scorch cackled, stroking his wooden dragon. "They shall be called DeathWings, and together we will prosper."

He snarled, and then, opening his claws, the figurine fell, fell, fell to the ground, and the history of Pyrrhia fell down with it.

CHAPTER ONE

"Shadow… flip, now strike. Don't give yourself away! Now LUNGE, Torment, teeth bared! Claws out! Spikes erect!" Mother stood on a jutting stone, surveying her children's fighting skills. Shadow struggled to flip around to face Torment, and clumsily batted at her brother. Torment laughed mockingly and leaped in a dark blur, wrestling with her and painfully pulling her tail.

"OW! Torment, quit it!" Shadow pleaded as her opponent pinned her down against the rocky floor.

"Shadow," her mother sighed, narrowing her eyes. "DeathWings don't politely ASK to stop fighting. It ends when we are victorious." Her nostrils flared angrily, then she glanced at Torment. "Good boy, Torment, we'll keep working tomorrow. As for YOU, Shadow, we need to talk."

"Yes, Mother," Shadow sighed sadly, plodding to her sleeping cave dejectedly. ''Why do DeathWings always FIGHT? Is there more to us… or is this all I can become?''

    Mother glared sternly as she curled up into a ball and wondered why she was even created. She had been told of the story of their creation, from many generations ago. She didn't like the idea of being enchanted… especially being enchanted to do evil. Every other DeathWing seemed to think it was okay. Was something wrong with her to care for other dragons?

All of a sudden, she heard loud footsteps at the entrance of the cavern. Shadow twisted her neck, only to see her mother and turn back again.

"Shadow," Mother said. She walked to her daughter, puffing out her spikes. "Don't deny who you are. I tried long ago, to run away from my destiny. I ran into the forest, living by myself for days. That's when the NightWings attacked. And I got this." She pointed to a nasty set of old scars on her face, then glanced down at a bruise on her shoulder. "That's why I'm doing this. I don't want you to learn this the hard way. You'd be nowhere without Scorch, and me, and your brother. We're all shaping you into who you're meant to be."

For a minute, she felt a strong surge of hatred for Scorch, the SandWing who'd enchanted her species a long time ago. The animus hadn't made her to live happily, he'd made her to get revenge. She wasn't meant to be brave and fight for victory, happily ever after. She was nothing but an act of selfishness.

"But MOTHERRRR!" she wailed. "What if I don't wanna be like OTHER DRAGONS? What about what I want?"

"Nobody cares what you want, Shadow. You just have to live with it." Mother sighed and pushed Shadow up. "Now… about the fighting."

After a day of fighting practice, Shadow had every right to be exhausted. There were too many types of flips and strikes, and she wasn’t good at it anyway. It seemed much easier to just make peace with other dragons. But she couldn’t be sure if the other dragons would want that. She’d never seen any other kind of dragon before, but she had heard the rumors, and was eager to see them someday.

She thought about this as she stepped through the dead ferns into the main cavern, where the villagers held events and traded. But today it was different. A cluster of DeathWings stood in a circle, poking their heads and puffing out their spikes excitedly.

Shadow followed the crowd and wove through the dragons until she could see a dull yellow dragon standing on a tall stalagmite. It was a male dragon, like none she’d ever seen before. He was a strange color, with spiny flat scales across his neck and going down his back. A golden crest of feathery scales, starting at his snout, went along his spine and around his barbed tail, which was decorated with a silver tail band encrusted with sapphires. In fact, the dragon was covered in jewelry, necklaces draped around his neck and a golden crown resting on his flat head.

Wow, she thought. Is that… a SANDWING?

Suddenly, cheers erupted in the cavern, bouncing across the cave walls. Once the echoing stopped, the large SandWing took a low bow and cleared his throat.

“Hello, my DeathWings!” the dragon howled. “Today is going to be quite a special day… it could possibly be the end of the IceWings… if we fight stronger than ever, and you listen to ALL OF MY COMMANDS.”

Shadow growled quietly. This dragon was being treated like a king, and he was acting like he had so much authority. Who did he think he was?

“Yes, and will we be going to the Ice Kingdom, Master?” a nearby dragon asked respectfully.

‘No, Hazard, of course not. They would see us coming, black and gray and red against that white snow… I have a BETTER idea. Now listen to me and you will hear.”

“Yes, Master Cactus!” All of the DeathWings roared and bowed so that their heads hit the ground. Shadow gasped, glancing at the SandWing. She had heard of Cactus before. If she was remembering correctly, he was Scorch’s great-great-great grandson or something like that. He had been in command for many, many years, according to Mother, but she had never seen him until now.

“Oh, boy! It’s Cactus!” She tried to act super excited like everyone else, but really, she was suppressing anger and fear. “Stupid SandWings… they think they’re so awesome.”

She glared at Cactus, who was blabbering about their dumb plan, and felt a jab in her side. She quickly turned to see a male DeathWing who looked about her age. She growled, hoping he hadn’t heard her muttering.

“Hey… what’d you just say… about SandWings?” He narrowed his eyes and lifted his spikes. Oh, now she was in trouble.

“Err… nothing, just that, um… ”

“That they’re stupid, and they think they’re so awesome?” The DeathWing grinned mischievously. “I TOTALLY agree!”

“Err… you do?” Shadow said.

“Yeah! My daddy says that he’s met a ton of SandWings since he’s Cactus’s first in command.” the dragon answered. “He tells me they’re all terrible. So, why do YOU hate them?”

“I don’t exactly know, but, I mean, just look at him now!” They both turned their heads to see Cactus taking long, dramatic bows as DeathWings cheered excitedly. “They all love him! And SCORCH probably just enchanted us to obey him, because he was greedy for revenge. I mean, I think the rumors are true, that if you use animus magic too much, then… your soul wastes away. Think about it, Mr. DeathWing. We are nothing more than an evil SandWing enchantment!” Shadow took a deep inhale as she finished, then sighed, glancing at the dragon.

“Okay… first of all, calm down! And second of all, my name is actually NOT Mr. DeathWing, believe it or not.” The male dragon smirked. “I… am Strike of the DeathWings. Pleased to meet you, yes, autographs are totally free, and I do require applause for this grand introduction.”

Shadow giggled and slowly clapped sarcastically.

“And yes, I do want to know your name.” Strike added, flattening down his spikes and twitching his ears.

“I’m Shadow!” she said, and erupted into a fit of coughing.

“Okay, Shadow… well, I actually think we work well together, don’t you?” Strike muttered nervously. Shadow could tell he was embarrassed to ask that.

Shadow smiled. “Well, yeah, I mean—”

“HEY, you two DeathWings, over there!” a screech erupted from the front of the cavern. They both quickly whipped around to see Cactus, glaring sternly at them. “Quit talking and start LISTENING! Or, are you too lovey-dovey to pay any attention?”

If words could kill, Shadow and Strike would definitely be dead by now.

“N-no, Cactus… we, uh… we were just talking!” Strike said.

“That’s Master Cactus to you!” the SandWing snarled. “And don’t say no to me, if you want to stay alive.”

“Yes, Master Cactus! We shall never EVER disrespect you EVER AGAIN, not in our whole entire lives! Right, Shadow?” Strike smirked and waited for Shadow to go along with his joke.

“Yes, OF COURSE! For you are the great, epic Master who holds ALL THE POWER IN THE WORLD!” Shadow held herself back, tempted to erupt in laughter.

But Cactus took no offense to these comments. Instead, he beamed with pride, apparently thinking the dragonets were being serious. Dragons glared at Strike and Shadow, but they didn’t care. They both agreed that they shouldn’t have to live under the power of a stupid SandWing, forced to be who others wanted them to be.

“Okay, DeathWings, do you all understand our plan to invade the IceWings?” Cactus asked, staring at the dragons with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, sir!” the DeathWings yelled in unison. All of the DeathWings except Shadow and Strike.

“I will build the underground tunnels, along with four other DeathWings of my choosing. And those four DeathWings will be… Agony, Storm, Blade, and… how about… Strike?” Cactus smiled at his own idea.

“Uh… no, Master Cactus, I— I don’t really know how to dig tunnels. I’d be absolutely no help at all. You’d better choose someone else.”

“Oh, all right. Shadow, then.” The SandWing smirked with pure ferocity.

“N-n-no, please, no, Master!” both DeathWings yelled.

“Okay, then, Strike it is.” Cactus decided. “The four dragons who I have just addressed, please meet me tonight, when the sun sets below the mountains. We start immediately. And I absolutely do NOT tolerate anyone being late. I expect my great-great-great grandfather’s creations to be PUNCTUAL, or else that was sure a mistake in his enchantments.”

“Of course, Master Cactus,” said a dark gray DeathWing with a bony face, who Shadow thought was named Agony. “We are not mistakes.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cactus hissed, his forked tongue sliding out like a snake. “Well, now that I have mentioned everything… meeting adjourned.”

CHAPTER TWO

Shadow slumped as she trotted slowly to her cramped, dark cave. She felt so stupid. She had forced her new friend to dig tunnels, and worse yet, as a plot to destroy the IceWings! And, as if it couldn’t get any worse, he would be working for Cactus! What had she done?

She looked up at the mountain that had belonged to her great-grandfather, many generations ago. It had lasted long enough to be passed down to her mother, Raven.

The large mountain had many holes, little caves that were used as rooms. Shadow’s cave, of course, was the smallest, while her mother’s was the biggest. (“It’s my mountain, after all,” was her common excuse.) Torment usually stayed in his cave, the one at the very top of the mountain. The entrance was very small and a very tight squeeze for Shadow, but Torment was small enough to fit through, and because of that, he loved his room. It was private, which was why she barely ever saw him except during training.

So she was shocked when she saw her brother, hunched by HER stone table, in HER room. Searching through HER books.

“What are you doing?” Shadow growled accusingly.

“Why would you care?” he answered, apparently shocked that he had been discovered. “I’m just READING.”

Shadow stifled a laugh. She didn’t think Torment had ever read, not in his life. “Why do I highly doubt that? I bet you don’t even understand the words.”

Her brother snarled defensively. “Of course I know how to read! This one, for instance,” he pointed to a thick book, about the history of Pyrrhia, “is about Pyrrhia’s fascinating mystery.”

“It’s HISTORY, not MYSTERY, you little bee-brain!” Shadow burst into laughter, rolling on the ground hysterically.

Torment hissed angrily. “Well, I was close enough.”

“Not close enough to stay in my room. Get out, now!” Shadow roared.

“Okay, okay!” Torment answered, sighing. “But, for the record, I am not the bee-brain here.”

Shadow watched as her brother flew out, up to his own cave. That was definitely strange. Why had he come to “read” in her room, and then given up so easily?

She hunched by her desk, opening up drawers, making sure Torment hadn’t messed with anything. Everything seemed to be in place. Her dreamvisitor, her love potion, the bottle of RainWing venom... Wait… the last drawer was left a crack open… just barely noticeable.

As she clasped her talons around the last drawer handle, and pulled it open slowly, she saw… the place where her most precious item was… was empty.

It was her most prized possession… a letter from her father, from almost a day before he was murdered by the IceWings. She’d even memorized all the words, the heartfelt letters, scrawled together to form his last statements:

Dearest Shadow,

''I want you to know that you have the power to change the way we see the world. You have the power of the stars and moons in your talons. You are an animus. Think of it as a secret, just between you and me. Use this power wisely, to change the world for the better. Do not be scared, don’t let your fear waver. Keep being yourself and don’t let this magic change you. Now, I insist you go to the library and borrow some scrolls about animus magic. And, while you’re at it, try enchanting this parchment. You’ll see you can do just about anything. But please, keep this power a secret and don’t let it go out of control. Remember I love you. I will always be there for you.''

Her father had always told her that animus magic was the most sacred power there was. According to Ancient Animus History, an animus could do practically anything, except bring dragons back from the dead. However, there had never been an animus in DeathWing history, and all of the animus scrolls were made decades ago, before DeathWings even roamed the earth. So, they didn't exactly help much.

So… was she the first DeathWing animus? Honestly, she preferred not knowing. If she was an animus, she'd either go insane (if the scrolls were right) or her magic would be used for terrible SandWing stuff. If she wasn't, she'd just feel stupid and ordinary. She liked feeling as if she might be special, even if she actually was totally normal.

But Shadow had realized that there were some good sides to her possible magic, so when she turned four, she had decided to enchant her father's letter, like he'd told her to. She had taken the parchment out of her bottom drawer, and whispered, "I enchant this parchment to cause the holder to… to have the power to… draw something, and it'll come to life!"

The parchment had twitched after she had finished the enchantment. A tiny vibration, barely visible to the unfocused eye. Shadow had shivered with a mix of fear and excitement. She'd rushed to her desk and, in the empty space at the bottom, she had drawn a bright red apple.

And, before her eyes, her sketch had gained realism, the dimensions forming and distorting, until a perfect crisp red apple had popped out. From the paper.

She WAS an animus.

Years after years, she'd spent time drawing and drawing and drawing. The parchment had never cleared, because as soon as her drawings came to life, her sketches vanished. It truly was magic, and she'd listened to her father. She never told a single soul, not even Mother or Torment.

Now, she had still managed to keep it a complete secret. She had stopped using the power, even though it was only a small enchantment. She now knew the true dangers of her sacred magic. She'd promised she'd never use it again, but she'd still kept the paper, just in case. It could determine the balance between life and death.

And now the parchment was gone.

She screeched angrily, causing an echo to roll across the walls of her room. She KNEW who committed the crime… he couldn't have made it more obvious.

"TORMENTTTT!" Shadow bellowed, blasting herself out of the cave, smoke billowing from her nostrils and sizzling in her wake as she sailed across the bleary sky.

She pulled back her wings, tensing them up as she flung her airborne body into Torment’s tiny cave entrance. Her head and neck squeezed through, but she couldn’t go through beyond her wings, which stuck out hopelessly from behind the opening. However, Shadow snarled when she couldn’t see her brother in his cave, and she pulled her neck out furiously. Where had he gone…?

Shadow, still flying around the caves, brought her talons into a fist as she surveyed the land. Then, she suddenly saw him… a tiny, dragon-shaped speck, far in the distance. Heading west.

And then, with a jolt of horror, she knew where Torment was going.

He was going to Cactus’s castle.

To reveal Shadow’s biggest secret.

CHAPTER THREE

Shadow was flying… flying like her life depended on it.

Her life didn’t depend on it, but her whole reputation did.

NO WAY was she going to live her life as Cactus’s tool. And NO WAY was Torment going to be the one to ruin it for her.

She tilted her wings and pulled in her legs, speeding up and catching the wind under the folds in her large gray wings. She sighed, knowing she’d never catch up to Torment in time.

She breathed heavily, thinking hard, before picking out a small dirty pebble from between her claws. She held it in front of her, whispering, “I enchant this pebble to fly straight to Torment, hit him square in the face, and cause him to be slower than a snail.”

That was it. Her first real enchantment. Not exactly a prideful or exciting moment in her life, but at least it was for a good reason. She couldn’t let the secret of her magic get out. She would be the first animus DeathWing. Her power would be devoted to evil… She couldn’t live with that.

After a split second of waiting, the tiny fragment of rock shot out of her talons, making a beeline for Torment, who was still a small dot in the distance.

And then he became a larger dot. And then, she could make out his bony figure, and see him clutching the parchment in his talons.

“Hey, Torment!” she yelped, which startled her brother and caused him to miss a wingbeat, abruptly lowering in the sky for a moment before pulling himself up in a huff of anger.

Torment attempted to fly faster, but Shadow easily caught up to her brother’s slow wingbeats.

She said his name again, but she barely even had to whisper it for him to hear. Torment turned abruptly, staring at her, square in the face, with narrowed eyes.

“Hey, animus. What’re you going to do now, enchant my teeth to fall out?” he hissed, clutching her father’s letter tight in his talons, gripping it so hard that it almost crumpled.

“I MIGHT if you keep flying to that wimp’s castle.”

“Hmmm…. Wimp? I can only think of one WIMP… but you don’t have a castle.”

Shadow bared her teeth and tightened her claws into fists. “You are the only wimp here right now. And wimps DESERVE TO HAVE THEIR TEETH FALL OUT!” She could almost feel her scales simmering with fury.

This seemed to really get Torment mad. In the air, he quickly lunged for Shadow and dug his claws… just below her throat. This slammed her to the ground, far below. Her back hit the grass and the wind was sharply knocked out of her.

“I enchant my scales to give my body invulnerability to Torment’s attack, and to heal any pain I have already received!” she hissed to herself quickly, out of Torment’s earshot, unsure if it would work. But, sure enough, she felt a surge of power sear though her gray scales, almost as if they were as hard as diamonds. Relaxation rippled in smooth pulses across her belly, shoulders, and back, slowly easing the pain until she felt stronger than before.

Pulling herself up with barely any effort, she reeled back up into the sky, grabbing Torment’s shoulders and easily pushing him back. He flipped around and flew at her, but he was way too slow, and she was way too powerful. Shadow’s tail smashed him in the side, sending him flying hopelessly the opposite direction. But her brother wouldn’t give up. He winced, rushing up to Shadow once again, and snarled, with all his yellow teeth showing.

“You wretched monster,” Torment growled. “You possess this sacred magic and you do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about it? Nothing to help your tribe?” He flew a bit closer and swiped at his sister, narrowly missing her face. But Shadow grinned, knowing it wouldn’t have hurt her anyway.

“I would help my tribe, if they weren’t a bunch of war-obsessed idiots!” Shadow answered angrily, suddenly imagining Torment with squid tentacles instead of legs. She laughed at the thought of it, then turned back to him. He seemed to be trying hard not to screech.

“War-obsessed? Idiots?” he yelped. “The DeathWings are the strongest tribe. Of course we use our power to its advantage. AND WE ARE NOT IDIOTS! We--”

Just then, her brother shook uncontrollably, his legs jiggling and stretching. He screamed as his legs morphed… into squid tentacles.

Shadow’s heart missed a beat, and she could barely even fly with the shock of this magic. She hadn’t done anything….

“SHADOW!” Torment attempted to rake his claws across her face, before realizing he had no claws now. His tentacles wobbled around and Shadow cracked up.

“Now, I enchant Torment’s earring to force him back home, and make him forget everything that happened once he’s there!” Shadow said, giggling. Torment’s skull earring tugged at his ear, and he was quickly dragged back home, screeching all the way.

Shadow, quite satisfied with herself, flew a bit further away from home, not quite sure where she was going. Eventually, she reached tall peaks, with the sun setting behind them. As she flew closer to watch the sunset, she heard dragons, talking with their deep voices hushed.

She pricked her ears as she immediately recognized Cactus’s voice.

“--tunnels, under here. Storm, you start, dig north toward the Ice Kingdom. Strike, you go down there and help. Agony, Blade, you will come with me to the other side, at the border of the Ice Kingdom, and dig the tunnel in that direction. That way, our groups should meet in the middle.” She heard Cactus’s claws dig into the sand.

So, he wasn’t even at his castle after all. He was with the group of DeathWings. To dig the tunnels, to sabotage the Ice Kingdom in secret.

Suddenly, she heard a complaining voice… Blade, maybe. “This is going to take forever. If we had an animus this would be so much easier.”

Shadow, still hiding on the other side of the mountain, tensed, not making a sound as Blade’s voice got closer.

"I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is… why didn't your great-great-however-many-greats grandfather make his enchantment have at least ONE DeathWing animus?"

She heard another voice — probably Agony — pipe into the conversation. "Yeah, if you wanted power, wouldn't animus be the first thing that comes to mind?"

Cactus snarled, baring his teeth and smashing his tail against Agony's side. The large DeathWing seemed mostly unfazed, until dark maroon blood welled up from a deep, wide puncture mark where he'd hit her.

Suddenly, she took a shallow gasp, and convulsed into a motionless heap. She jerked her legs a few times before falling stiff after a few minutes, showing that she was lifeless.

Shadow peeked from behind the mountain in utter shock. ''Cactus had killed Agony. Cactus had killed his own servant.'' Straining her neck, Shadow saw the SandWing’s expression of shock, and Blade’s bony face, which gave away nothing. But she could tell the DeathWing was devastated, by the way his shoulders drooped and how his tail brushed the sand, sending a cloud of dust in Cactus’s face. He glared, blinking, but said nothing. The large SandWing started digging instead, pushing Agony’s body aside.

Just then, Shadow remembered Strike. He was on the other side, far from the Ice Kingdom, with Storm. What if Storm tried to kill her friend? The thought of a DeathWing doing that to another dragon made her shudder, but she knew that it was more than possible. She flapped her wings, making a deep echo across the mountainside, and flew up in pursuit of Strike.

A jabbing tug on her tail caused Shadow to shriek, and she was violently pulled down, her head smashing against the ground. Sand sprayed across her vision as she coughed. As soon as she had the strength to pull herself up, she saw the talon that had pulled her down.

Clenched into a fist, claws shimmering in the dull sunset, were the talons of Cactus himself. His spiked cuff was thrown to the ground and covered in sand, while his black claws twitched around Shadow’s tail. Cactus reared up, lifting her upside down in the air, while Shadow wriggled, attempting to shake out of his grip. But the SandWing was too strong.

“What are you doing here, little dragonet?” Cactus hissed, his forked tongue sliding in and out. “Eavesdropping? Spying… to tell the IceWings of my plans?”

Shadow shook her head rapidly, making herself dizzy. “No, no! I wanted to… see my friend! Strike!” That was only half a lie, she realized.

“Oh, that excuse for a DeathWing! So he’s your boyfriend? Why, that’s an interesting choice. He can’t even seem to slide his claws out.” The broad, pale golden-brown dragon grabbed his spiky arm cuff, clasping it on his ankle with difficulty.

“He’s nice, you’d see that if you even CARED ABOUT US AT ALL!” Shadow screeched, almost unaware of what she was saying. “All you EVER cared about is YOURSELF! In your mind, we are just a load of scavenger droppings, only created to do YOUR dirty work for you! Since you can’t even DIG A TUNNEL, so don’t go around saying we can’t do anything! You’re the lazy, annoying, snotty brat! Not Strike, not me, not ANY OF US!” She took a deep gasp in, panting. Her throat felt sore, knowing that she had just spit out all of her feelings. To the one dragon she was trying to hide them from. But yet, she couldn’t let him go around assuming everything. Shadow swallowed, and added, “Strike isn’t my boyfriend.”

Cactus squeezed her spiky tail, sending a jolt of pain through her body, before dropping her to the ground once again. He curled up his lip, showing his fangs, and slashed at the side of her face. She felt dizzy and weak, and her vision blurred. She could see the bleary outline of the SandWing, lifting up his tail to her chest. Instinct caused Shadow to roll to the side, her arm blocking her belly, and suddenly a searing pain, just below her shoulder. A flash of black spots flooded her brain. A snarl of fury… Blood…  A poison SandWing tail barb.

Her thoughts seemed to end as darkness took over, and her mind went black.

CHAPTER FOUR

Shadow’s ears pulsed. Blood seemed to surge through her veins for the first time. She heaved herself up… yet she didn’t. She had no strength, she could barely even move without her body stinging like crazy. But mostly her arm, near the lower side of her shoulder. Why was she hurting so much? And where was she?

Suddenly, she heard whispers from about a tail-length away, but she couldn’t move her neck to see the dragons who spoke.

“...killed two DeathWings…”

“...Calls himself a master?...he’s sure not setting a great example…”

“...The darker one’s been dead for a while, it seems.”

Footsteps pattered closer against creaking wood boards, as a wave of cold seemed to rush across Shadow’s scales. Now that she was less numb, she realized that it was quite cold. She smelled hints of freshwater, but in a cooler, deeper sort of way. Other scents were mixed in, of dragons and dried leaves and cold things. She squinted and glanced up above her. A drop of water immediately fell onto her snout. It dripped down uncomfortably, before going down the side of her neck. She was in some kind of bed, below… frozen water. Ice, it was called. Shadow had heard rumors and stories of ice, but she’d never actually seen it before. Mother had said not many DeathWings ever did.

All of a sudden, the talonsteps became louder, and a faint radiation of frost seemed to envelope her. A freezing cold, gentle talon swept across the side of her face. But no pain came. This cold dragon didn’t intend to hurt her.

“I’m pretty sure this lighter one’s dead too, Blizzard.”

“Okay, let’s move her to the hot water spring, it’ll clean out her body. She looks pretty badly beaten up… I’ll bet by a SandWing.”

“Probably that master who controls those DeathWings! Well, anyway, let’s move the body to the spring.”

Shadow’s body tensed as she was picked up by two freezing shoulders. She heard faint grunting, and the gentle rocking of the dragons picking her up lulled her. An aura of calm swept across her body in a smooth, icy wave. Her eyelids were pulled down by the force of exhaustion, and she fell into the darkness once again.

Shadow’s eyes flashed open as fiery warmth spread through her flesh and bones. She looked down quickly, and noticed steamy hot water, bubbling and sloshing up to her neck. It practically felt like it was sizzling through her scales.

“AIEEEEEEE!” she shrieked, leaping instinctively out of the water pool, sending splashes that brought steam rising through the melted snow.

Shadow backed away as her arm buckled, but not before she fell knee-deep into the frosty snow. This caused a small dragon to rush over to her. Ahhhh! Shadow thought, ''THAT WAS SO HOT! And… my arm hurts so much!''

The dragon who came over was a white dragon with pale grayish-blue speckles on her wings and shimmering scales. She looked a bit young, only a little older than Shadow.

“Blizzard! Quick, come here, the little dragon’s alive!” The dragon’s words echoed strangely in her head. Her brain seemed to pulse, feeling a raging headache starting to form. A second pale dragon popped out from an icy cave, rushing out with a shocked expression on her face. This dragon was a shade of blue lighter than the sky, with some white splotches like clouds. She looked a good amount older than the other one, at least double its age. But she had the same spikes like icicles, flowing from the back of her head to her spine.

“No, Flurry, you said she was dead!” answered the older dragon sarcastically. “You couldn’t have possibly been wrong, right?”

“Stop it, Blizzard!” the younger one, Flurry, said, gently jabbing the other one in the side. “We just need to help her… don’t we?” Flurry and Blizzard towered over Shadow, whose legs were still sinking into the snow. Her head kept burning, while trying to escape the snow and understand their conversation at the same time. She cleared her throat a few times, before finally gathering the strength to speak.

“Um…” she muttered, her throat rasping. “Wh-who are you…?”

“Oh, us?” responded the older pale blue dragon, Blizzard. “We’re IceWings… but, minor detail, we’re DeathWings’ enemies.”

Shadow gulped. What were they going to do to her? Wait, didn’t IceWings have deadly frostbreath? She moved her legs around in the snow, trying to pull them free. But they wouldn’t budge. She was stuck, and these IceWings were going to freeze her like an ice cube and eat her for dinner.

Just then, the small dragon, Flurry, crouched and crawled under Shadow. Hmm… was this an IceWing murder strategy? But instead of claws raking through her chest, she felt cold scales and a strong back against her belly. She was getting lifted up! Shadow thrashed her legs, and they were able to come out from this height, sending flakes of snow everywhere. Including Blizzard’s face.

Flurry rushed out from under Shadow, panting. Blizzard frowned angrily, shaking the snow off her snout. “Please go now, to your own territory with your own wretched master.”

Flurry sighed. “But… don’t we want to know how she got hurt? And maybe help her more? She hasn’t even been cured for her venom wound!” The young IceWing’s ears lifted. “And maybe she’s nice, even though DeathWings hate us and they like SandWings, and we hate SandWings, but, um, maybe we could get along! And maybe she could spy and tell us all of the SandWing plans! Wouldn’t that be cool, Blizzard? Huh?”

This made Blizzard flare her nostrils and growl, sending out a tiny puff of frost. “Do what you want, but I’m definitely NOT hanging around with a sworn enemy who will probably kill us in moments.” The IceWing swished her tail and walked away to the ice cave.

Shadow and Flurry sat there awkwardly for a minute.

Shadow coughed.

Flurry took a breath in and shifted her talons.

“So… um. Err, how old are you… DeathWing?” the young dragon said after another moment.

“Six thousand years old.” responded Shadow, glancing at her wounded arm. An ugly gash showed near the top of her arm from behind a piece of tree bark. A few brown, rotting vines tied around her arm held the bark in place.

“Ha.” Flurry said, as Shadow looked up quickly. “Yeah, and I’m eight thousand.”

The DeathWing bent down and sniffed at the putrid vines, wrinkling her nose at the gross scent. The IceWing clearly noticed her disgust.

“Sorry, those were the only ones in our supply, don’t expect a flourishing garden of leaves and vines in here!” she said, glancing around at the icy cavern.

“So, what is this place anyway?” asked Shadow. She stepped closer to Flurry, avoiding putting any weight on her crippled arm.

The white dragon smiled weakly. “Oh, this shabby thing? It’s an igloo… Like a hut made out of ice,” she added when she saw the DeathWing’s confused expression. “It’s kind of like my den, my home, sort of. Well, Blizzard’s too of course.”

Shadow tipped her head. “Are you and Blizzard sisters?”

“No,” Flurry answered. “We’re cousins, though. We were both exiled from the Ice Kingdom after talking to a SandWing.”

“Talking to a SandWing? What’s the big deal with that?” asked Shadow.

“SandWings--well, they’re kind of the all-powerful creators of evil, do you see what I mean?” The young IceWing squinted at the gray dragonet in front of her. “That kind of behavior isn’t tolerated in the Ice Kingdom. If you even speak a word to a SandWing, you’ll be bumped down to the lowest rank… or if you make a decent conversation with one, you’ll be forced out of the kingdom.”

“Well, how come you had a conversation with a SandWing, if you knew it was wrong? Although I still don’t get why it’s wrong, but whatever…” Shadow muttered, lifting up her arm and gingerly tugging at one of the shriveled vines with her teeth.

Flurry’s spikes lowered with embarrassment, and she took a breath before she finally started to speak. “Char was nice, really. Well, nice to the IceWings, at least. He came here some time ago, and he—”

“Char! He’s that SandWing in my old history scroll! The evil traitor who betrayed the DeathWings and was a DISGRACE to his entire family!” Shadow said enthusiastically. That’d show Mother that at least she actually read her scrolls! “Now he lives in a cave somewhere, but the scroll said his exact whereabouts are unknown.”

Flurry huffed. “Unknown? Those SandWings and DeathWings are so dumb, they won’t even notice something under their noses!”

“Wait,” Shadow cut in, her eyes widening. “You know where he is?”

“Yeah, but even me, an idiot slug according to Blizzard, knows that I would NEVER tell a DeathWing private information like that.”

Shadow blinked. “But he’s a SandWing! It shouldn’t be private if DeathWings work for SandWings!”

Flurry sighed and let her shoulders roll back. “Ugh, okay. It’s in an underground cave, at the border between the Sand Kingdom and the Ice Kingdom. Near those mountains, you know where I’m talking about?”

“Yeah!” she answered. “Thats… that’s where I was when I was almost killed by Cactus!” Shadow’s ears lifted. She remembered everything now… Cactus pulling her down, she was going to check on…. Strike! Where was Strike?

“Hang on, Cactus?” Flurry answered, interrupting her flood of memories. “Isn’t he that evil SandWing? The one in charge of the DeathWings?”

“Yeah, he’s sure evil. He only cares about himself and all the other dragons just BLINDLY follow his commands. And he’s a cold-blooded killer, too!” Shadow looked around, her gaze settling on Agony’s limp body, which was sitting in a hot-water pool just like Shadow’s. Even though Agony certainly wasn’t the best dragon in the continent, she still deserved to live. “Everyone could use another chance,” she whispered to herself.

Flurry sighed. A deep, empathetic sigh. She actually cared about Shadow. “Well… since I told you about Char… do you mind telling me about Cactus?” The IceWing pulled her claws in and out repeatedly, making marks in the loose snow.

Shadow thought for a second, and then slowly nodded her head. She began to explain all the details of Cactus… how he wore a spiked arm cuff on one of his ankles, and how he was selfish and came up with terrible plans, like how he was digging a tunnel to invade the Ice Kingdom from underground. And how they somehow hadn’t come across Char, probably because Cactus put up a fight early on, and killed one of his own DeathWings. And, she began to rant about how she had wanted to check on Strike but Cactus had seen her and poisoned her.

Flurry raised her tail in shock, but then squinted. “Why were you at the mountains in the first place, if you weren’t supposed to be there?”

“I kinda… got lost?” Shadow answered, feeling a sudden jolt of pain near her shoulder, but ignoring it. “Well, it's hard to explain. So, uh, my brother Torment was going to Cactus’s palace to warn him I was an animus because he snuck into my room and found my dad’s note in my dresser, and so… anyway, I enchanted him to not remember anything and then, I—um— I sort of accidentally gave him squid tentacles? And then I just flew away like an idiot and then I heard Cactus and, yeah.”

“WAIT, WHAT? You’re an animus?” the white dragon stepped back in shock, a tiny glint of what looked like fear in her eyes.

“Oh,” Shadow slapped her forehead with her good talons. Why had she revealed that? To an IceWing, no less! “Yeah?”

Flurry sat up straight. “Then heal yourself! That would make my job so much easier, and I would tell Blizzard I did it! She’d be so proud of me!”

The DeathWing considered saying yes, but only because her arm would feel better. She had no reason to help this IceWing.

“Fine, but just because I don’t want to die. Go ahead and tell Blizzard your stupid lies, and how about I go back to telling my own?” Shadow said.

“What do you mean?” Flurry asked, clearly offended.

“Oh, nevermind,” she answered, turning around. “Just how I have to keep my powers a secret from everyone I know.”

Shadow sighed hopelessly and heard the IceWing mutter something about Char, before she bent her wings and lifted off into the sky. At first it was painful to move. Her wing joints tensed and her arm burned with pain. She slowed down and whispered, “I enchant this vine wrap so that once I take it off, my arm is good as new-- wait, no.” Shadow paused, realizing everyone would wonder how her wound had healed so quickly. “I re-enchant this vine wrap so that once I take it off, the puncture mark will still appear for a while, but it will not affect me in any way.” That way, if anybody saw her, they wouldn’t question her. She beamed with pride at her wonderful idea. She would be so wise with her magic, and she’d do the smartest things with it and never make a mistake. Except when she had given her brother squid tentacles. But that was a funny mistake, so it didn’t really count.

The vines around her upper arm suddenly began to move, energy humming through the tendrils. Comfort pierced through her scales and her muscles loosened. She felt more at ease than she had in a long time. She paused in midair and pulled off the tree bark wrap. They had done all they needed to.

As she crossed the border and flew into the Sand Kingdom, Shadow noticed movement zigzag through the sand below. She swooped lower down, squinting. There it was. A dragon, well-camouflaged with the dull golden sand. He had darker splotches down his spine, and his one wing striped with faint black lines at the edges.

Shadow's talons sunk into the sand as she hit the ground. She rushed across the terrain, spraying sand as she went.

"Hey, you! SandWing!" she yelled. Good thing she could trust this guy. SandWings and DeathWings were on good terms.

But the dust-colored dragon took one glance at her before breaking into a run.

"Wait!" Shadow rushed after him urgently. Something inside of her just wanted to meet this SandWing. She stumbled up a sand dune, catching sight of his tail-tip vanishing behind another hill. Flying would be quicker, she realized. But then why wouldn't he fly? Was he not really trying to escape her?

She felt more strength in her muscles as she took flight above the desert. She caught up to him easily, and ducked down, descending right in front of the dragon.

The small SandWing was more muscular up-close. He had an arched back and one of his wings was missing, with only a wingbud showing. His eyes were deep hazel, nearly black. They narrowed when he saw the DeathWing.

"What are you doing here?" he snarled. "I'm not coming back to Cactus's castle. I said that long ago, so tell him no." The SandWing's tail pricked, its barb gleaming in the midday sunlight.

“Wha-- no!” Shadow stammered. “I’m not a DeathWing.” She immediately clamped her mouth shut. What had she just said? She’d almost said it instinctively. Just to defend myself from this SandWing, I guess, she told herself.

“Not a DeathWing? Ha! Go back where you came from, little runt! What’ll Cactus ask you DeathWings to do next, make him a feast and perform a show?” the sand-colored dragon lashed his tail, stepping back angrily.

Shadow cleared her throat. She’d clear everything up for this stranger, if he was stupid enough to not understand. “Um, you don’t get it, SandWing. So…” she grasped for the right way to explain herself. “You know how you’re a SandWing, and you should be with them and the DeathWings?”

“Yes,” the dragon grumbled. “Don’t remind me.”

“Well, I’ve kind of always hated them, probably the same with you, do you get it now? I hate Cactus! And all Mother wants me to do is fight. And my brother Torment found out I was an animus and that would STINK if I had to use my magic for horrible dragons.”

The SandWing gasped, his tail straight up and his eyes wide. “There’s never been a DeathWing animus!”

“I know, but I am. Anyway, a while ago, Cactus ATTACKED me! With his tail, and I woke up and I was in this… igloo, that was what Flurry called it, and--” Shadow stopped when she saw the strange SandWing prick his ears.

“Flurry?” he gasped. “You saw Flurry? When?”

“Uh, I forget how long it’s been! Almost half a month ago, it feels like.” Shadow answered, shifting her weight uncomfortably. “Why do you want to know, exactly?”

“I— I love her.” the muscular SandWing murmured, dipping his head. “My name is Char.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Shadow’s claws dug into the sand under her feet. This SandWing, she knew who he was now. Char, the SandWing she’d read of in her scrolls. The one Flurry had talked to some time ago.

“Char,” she said thoughtfully. “I read about you.”

“Wow, go figure. Probably about how I was a TERRIBLE and NASTY dragon,” the bulky SandWing growled, his one wing lowering so that it touched the ground.

Shadow grinned. “Yeah… but you don’t seem too bad.”

“Try telling that to my uncle.” he said, causing the DeathWing to tip her head in confusion. “Cactus.” Char added quickly, lowering his gaze. “He was the one who exiled me. My own uncle… He never really seemed to favor me, anyway, but I never thought he’d go as far as to EXILE me!”

Shadow bent down and licked her wounded shoulder. It didn’t hurt anymore because of her enchantment, but it still looked gross on the outside. “Wow,” she said to Char once she lifted her head. “That’s harsh. I’ve learned firsthand too, that he’ll go really far to get what he wants.”

Char nodded. “He sent me and a troop of DeathWings, a long time ago, to invade the NightWings. One of them, a really big NightWing, tore off almost all my wing. It was terrible and it took many months to stop the infection. The SandWing healers ended up cutting off all of my wing,” he snarled, wiggling his remaining wingbud. “It’s all Cactus’s fault, if you ask me. He was the one who forced me to lead that invasion.”

“Well, it’s nice to formally meet you,” said Shadow, quickly changing the subject. She dipped her head. “I’m Shadow.”

“You know what happens to animus dragons,” he whispered, as if not even hearing her. “They--”

“They what?” she burst in. What was going to happen to her? Would SHE grow squid tentacles too? Oh no, that couldn’t happen!

“They go CRAZY,” murmured Char, his head lowered. He buried his claws into the sand, the grains flowing over his talons. Shadow lifted her tail, her eyes widening in disbelief.

“No, Char, that isn’t true!” Shadow wailed, touching her forehead in horror. “Am… AM I CRAZY?” She flapped her wings nervously, spraying sand in dust clouds around her.

“Quit it, Shadow. You’re not crazy. Not yet, at least…”

“Not yet? How do I NOT become crazy?” Shadow shuffled her talons, pouting.

“Never use your animus magic. Ever again.” Char answered. “I know this because I almost went crazy. And it’s worse than any missing wing, or poisoned arm, or any pain you can imagine. You’ll become like Scorch was.”

The DeathWing’s eyes widened into orbs of blood. “W-what do you mean… when you said YOU almost went crazy?”

“I was an animus.” the SandWing growled. “Before I vowed never to use my magic again.” He glanced at a small ring on his fifth talon, lifting his right arm so Shadow could see. “This was my first enchantment. A Memory-Seeker.”

Char glanced at the ruby encrusted in the ring, then whispered in a low voice. Shadow caught the words “fate” and “torn from my grasp” as the SandWing closed his eyes.

The sand of the tall dunes seemed to shift, and Char and Shadow were suddenly thrust into a sandstorm of dust and wind. The air gave a deafening roar and grains of sand stung as they blew into her eyes. She grunted, squinting her eyes shut while trying to keep her feet on the ground. She could barely see Char in the desert storm, but he was probably doing the same as her: cowering down and avoiding the danger.

Shadow barely even had time to wonder what Char had done. With a jolt of shock, her feet were dragged from the surface and she was tossed away, wind clawing at her face as it rushed by. Howls grew louder and louder in her ears. Shadow could barely hear her own screech as the breeze carried it away.

Suddenly, the wind stopped. Completely… stopped.

She opened her eyes quickly, looking down to make sure she was on solid ground. She definitely was on ground, but it wasn’t the sand that had been there a second ago. It was cracked, weathered stone, eroded by years and years of existence. Shadow glanced around, looking for any signs of life. Anything that could give her a clue of where she was.

Behind her, she saw a large, burly SandWing, a smaller one at its side. In front of them was a group of DeathWings, swishing their tails and talking amongst themselves.

“Quiet!” hissed the large SandWing, dipping his head to the smaller one. “Char, tell them about our task.”

Shadow’s eyes widened. Char? But-- Char was with her… and this didn’t look like Char. The small dragon looked well-fed, and he had two wings intact.

The tiny SandWing cleared his throat, standing tall with his tail barb raised. “Okay, DeathWings. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Mamba and I will lead the way, but I will be the one who starts the invasion. You better do this right, because you wouldn’t want to ruin my first day as Secondary Army General, would you?”

The gray and red dragons facing him shook their heads. Some looked a bit nervous, while others looked eager for this opportunity to attack.

“Good. Now, the reason Cactus assigned us to invade the NightWings is because it’s an important task. You see, if we weaken the nearby defense, not only will we have defeated a major enemy, but we’ll also have given ourselves a clear path to defeat the BIGGEST enemy. The IceWings.” The general, who seemed to be Char,  narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, Shadow felt a tap on her shoulder. She whipped around to see a SandWing. THIS was really Char, with his missing wing, and his thin, muscular figure. But the small dragon behind her was also Char somehow.

“Wh-what is this? Why do you and that army general have the same name…?” Shadow asked, squinting in the midday sun. It was lowering across the jutting peaks, which were nothing more than a dark shadow in the distance.

“No,” said the real Char, “that’s me, or-- it was me, at least. Before I left Cactus and lost my wing. I left my honor with me.” He lifted up his arm, showing the tiny ring on his fifth talon. “I enchanted this long before now, as you can tell,” he murmured, dipping his head toward the younger Char, who wore the same ring.

“The Char From the Past is a nice nickname for this dude, you think so?” asked Shadow, grinning.

“Watch your mouth, because ‘this dude’ is about to eat you for dinner!” growled The Char From the Present with a gleam in his eyes.

Shadow stepped back. “Y-y-you would really do that?” She glanced at his tail barb, which was tucked in, but accessible for him at any moment.

“No.” Char smirked. “But don’t make me change my mind.” He glanced back at the gathered dragons, who were flying off the stony peak of the mountain. “Let’s follow me… well, the old me,” said Char, attempting to fly along with his past self, before flopping down dejectedly. His missing wing prevented him from taking flight.

“Hey, it’s alright! Because I have an idea!” Shadow piped up.

“No, I know what you’re thinking, Shadow. You are NOT using your magic.” Char hissed, lowering his one wing.

“Actually, I was thinking you’d just go on my back.” she said, shifting her weight and lowering her legs into a crouch. She pressed herself down so that the SandWing could get on.

Char tipped his head. “You really think you could carry me?”

“Um,” she muttered. “I can definitely try!” Shadow flicked her ears, beckoning for the impaired SandWing to clamber on her back.

“Try all you want, then.” he climbed up onto her back, and Shadow pulled open her wings and took flight, with Char clinging onto her shoulders, his one remaining wing spread wide, trembling in the strong breeze.

She tried to keep her back from lowering too much; the SandWing was extremely heavy despite his size. With a grunt, she slowed down to catch her breath. This was a much better pace.

“This is a much worse pace!” complained Char, digging his claws into her back. Shadow stifled a loud groan, which instead came out as a snort.

“You aren’t a dragonet in need of a piggyback ride,” she retorted. “I go at the speed that’s good for me. You should be thanking me, really…” Panting, she continued to fly away from the mountains, with no exact location in mind. She was just trying to follow the invasion army. But she’d never been to the Night Kingdom, although she had seen it on a map. It was below the Sand Kingdom, a small peninsula jutting out of Pyrrhia. Mother had told her it was creepy. She’d said that it had lava, and volcanoes, and sharp rocks. A few DeathWings had died there, Shadow remembered with a shudder.

“We won’t keep up with them at this rate,” Char complained, while pointing to the invaders, which were becoming smaller and smaller figures in the distance.

“Are we able to die like this?” Shadow asked, tensing up as she gradually picked up speed.

“In my past?” Char yelled over the howling wind. “No, we’re technically just spectators now.” This caused her to let out a sigh of relief.

“Good, because I surely would have died in the Night Kingdom,” she said.

“Actually, probably not. You seem really strong, and brave.” Warmth flooded through her body as Char added, “But, not very smart.”

“I am VERY smart, you ignorant load of camel spit!” Shadow snarled, which turned into laughing after a moment. “Disgusting piece of vulture dung…” She quickly tilted herself, sliding Char to the side of her back. Smirking, she balanced herself back, looking behind her to see the SandWing panting. A faint smile was plastered on his face, making Shadow burst out laughing.

“What?” he hissed. He spoke as if he was mad, but she could see laughter in his dark gray-green eyes. He lifted his tail slowly.

Shadow wasn’t scared of his tail barb anymore. She knew he was just using it as a joke. Char would never hurt anyone with it, unlike Cactus.She glanced at her wound from Cactus’s barb, a nasty puncture mark crusted with dried blood. She probably would’ve lost her leg if she hadn’t enchanted it to heal. That was why Char was wrong. She NEEDED to use her magic.

Lowering his tail, Char let out an exaggerated sigh. “Come on, let’s keep following my patrol.”

The two dragons flew for what felt like hours, until the sun was merely a sliver from below the blazing horizon. They had gained on the group of dragons, and once the sky darkened, the army patrol settled on a flat mountain peak to rest for the night. Shadow paused in midair, hesitant to go closer. What if the dragons tried to kill her? She couldn’t die here, but…

“Come on, Shadow,” Char said, tilting his head to the mountain. “They can’t see us, I told you we’re just spectating!” He tapped impatiently on Shadow’s scaly back, yawning.

“Oh. Yeah, right,” she muttered. Tucking in her wings, she lowered, settling gently on the flat stone.

“Careful!” hissed the SandWing as he nearly slid off her back. Shadow growled an apology, scraping her claws against the mountain surface.

Only a thin golden strip of light showed beyond the towering cliffs, like a line of fire being extinguished by the shadowy veil of night. Thin clouds drifted slowly, covering the stars and moons. Two of the milky orbs were half-moons, while the third one was nothing more than a white sliver across the sky like a claw mark. Shadow glanced ahead, seeing the outlines of the patrol as they rested, yawning and lying down uncomfortably on the cold stone.

Lowering down gently so that Char could climb off, Shadow narrowed her eyes. “At least tell me that we can SLEEP here.”

“Nope. No sleeping,” the SandWing said, getting off her back and smirking.

“WHAT??” Shadow screeched. “What will we do all--”

“I’m kidding! Of course you can sleep here, it’s something we all can do naturally.”

“Very funny, Char,” she said, tilting herself so that Char tumbled off her back and landed on the stone with a heavy thump. Shadow ignored his growl of indignance and let out a massive yawn. Her body hurt all over… mostly her legs. Or was it her back? It felt numb with pain, from carrying the heavy SandWing all the way here. Stupid missing wing, she fumed. ''If he’s an animus too, then he could just fix it! Or I could do it for him, if he REFUSES to use his magic.''

She buried her head between the gap in her elbows and closed her eyes. She’d talk to Char in the morning.

Shadow was dreaming. At least, she thought she was.

She was standing in a throne room, decorated with desert-themed tapestries and SandWing statues encrusted with gems. This must be Cactus’s palace. she thought with a groan. Looking around, she saw a massive golden throne in the center of the large room. On the ground was what seemed to be a rug made of bobcat fur, and in a nearby display case, an owl was trapped inside. But it had been killed… and stuffed.

How could Cactus be so CRUEL? What did the bobcat and the owl ever do to him? Although… her mother and the other DeathWings would probably be perfectly fine with killing harmless creatures. But was something wrong with them, or was it her that was wrong?

“Cactus, um, do you mind… reporting to the war pavilion?” Shadow flipped around to see a pale brown SandWing marked with black specks down his neck and legs. He wore a leather leg band on his back ankle, signifying that he was one of Cactus’s high-ranked soldiers. His black eyes were fixed on something behind Shadow. Turning slowly, she saw none other than Cactus, hunched in a corner with his head in his talons.

Once he heard the soldier’s words, he quickly looked up, glaring. “I don’t take orders from my soldiers.” He stood up, growling, with his head bent down.

The light-colored SandWing looked down at his leather band, lifting up his hind leg to get a good look. “Well-- you see, Master Cactus, it’s of utmost importance. Several other soldiers are requesting your presence as well.”

“Requesting?” Cactus echoed, narrowing his eyes.

Shifting his feet, the soldier nodded. “We need to talk about the DeathWings.”

“Fine,” snarled Cactus, draping a golden chain over his head. “But you know better than to defy me, or my rules.” He tucked in his tail, so that the venomous barb was hardly showing. He’s right to be embarrassed. Shadow realized, with a hint of satisfaction. He shouldn’t use that dumb killer tail so much.

“Yes, Master.” The SandWing soldier slowly led Cactus out of his throne room. It was nice to see the master of all DeathWings, being led somewhere by one of his own soldiers. She didn’t think Cactus would’ve put up with that on a normal day. But this wasn’t normal, not when a life had been lost (although everyone probably assumed she was dead too). But would anyone lose respect for the leader they had fought beside for so long? Or would they still risk their lives for him?

Shadow quietly slithered behind them, careful not to make a sound. She had always been terrible at being quiet in her stealth training lessons.

Suddenly, when she was crawling out the doorway of the throne room, she heard a crrrreeeaaaaakkkk sound, like an alarm saying, “you blew it again, Shadow.”

Cactus and his soldier turned around immediately. “Who goes there?” snarled Cactus, crouching down and baring his fangs. Shadow’s heart pumped inside her chest, and she was genuinely shocked that the SandWings couldn't hear it. Risking a look down at her talons, she saw the wooden board she’d stepped on was loose. Out of ALL the floorboards she could have stepped on, it HAD to be the one that made the loud creak to show your presence to the dragon who tried to kill you. Just perfect luck.

Glancing back up at the dragons, Shadow tensed. The soldier who accompanied Cactus was staring at her, making direct eye contact. Her ears flattened, and she sighed to herself. She’d been caught.

But the SandWing only looked at her a split second before frantically scanning the rest of the room. As if he hadn’t seen her…

“Nobody’s here, Master Cactus. I probably just stepped on a loose floorboard or something.” The rust-colored dragon nodded curtly to his leader, beckoning them to leave.

“Once you’re back to your job, tell Wither to fix my floor so that it doesn’t make such an annoying sound,” said Cactus.

Shadow’s eyes widened as she breathed a deep sigh of relief. They couldn’t see her! So, this must be a dream. But-- maybe it was a VISION! Maybe something like that was really happening, right now, in Cactus’s palace!

The soldier nodded immediately, but… what was that in his eyes? It looked like a hint of fear, or exasperation. But that couldn’t be what it was, since no SandWing had feelings. They were all soulless monsters, except maybe Char. Although it was a possibility that they’re all scared of Cactus now, after the terrible things he did. ''He deserves to be disliked. He deserves to be squashed in the snout with his own dumb tail!'' She grinned, slowly following the two dragons as they went to a large, dome-shaped room at the center of the castle.

    “Thank you, Leopard,” Cactus grunted, looking down at the wood floor scornfully.

    “Actually, it’s Jackal, sir,” the soldier answered, swishing his tail nervously.

    “Leopard, Jackal, what’s the difference?” growled the large SandWing as he strutted to a round table, his necklace jingling on his neck as he walked.

Jackal sat down on a tall velvet chair next to Cactus’s even TALLER velvet chair. Once all the SandWing soldiers had settled down, a pale yellow SandWing facing Cactus locked eyes with his master.

“Cactus… we have some things to discuss.” The dragon pressed his wings against his body and sighed. Kind of like how Mother sighed when Shadow did something stupid.

“I know what this is about, Jackal,” snarled Cactus. “I don’t want to--”

“Um, it’s Caracal, sir. That’s Jackal… over there.” She pointed across the table to the dragon who had escorted Cactus.

Shadow could tell the master was fuming, by the way he seethed in his miniature throne, and how his shoulders tensed angrily. He wasn’t used to being bossed around by his own soldiers. The thought of that satisfied her.

“I still know what this is, Caracal. You’re going to mention the dead DeathWings, which I’ve been avoiding, and you will regret ever speaking to me about such a neglected topic.” Cactus said, searing his gaze into the soldier’s.

“No, Master,” another SandWing piped up. “I mean, kind of, but… we feel like you’re going a bit too hard on the DeathWings, do you see what we mean?” The other dragons in the room nodded their heads, except Cactus, who sat in a stunned silence. Jerking up his head, he glanced at the dragon who’d spoken wearily.

“Well then, answer this question for me,” hissed Cactus, “who will be the one to do my work?”

A moment of tense silence followed his question, but suddenly, a soldier spoke up. “You, Cactus. You fix your own problems, clean up your own messes.”

An uproar of agreement nearly deafened Shadow, but she was glad to hear that the soldiers agreed with what she was thinking. Without his soldiers, he was hopeless. And he knew it.

“I’m SORRY, okay? Just keep working for me. How else will you succeed in life, without my commands, or the payment you need?”

The SandWings considered, and Caracal muttered, “I guess you’re right, Master. You always are.”

Jackal piped up. “I’ll remain loyal to you, Master Cactus.”

The dragons sitting around the table slowly nodded their heads in unison, but some looked torn, as if they were just following the others’ decisions. Maybe it was hard for the soldiers, harder than Shadow had thought. Their whole life was a mess, wasted on revenge they (hopefully) will never receive. Shouldn’t they all feel some resentment? Some annoyance at Cactus for forcing their lives to be a certain way?

Growling under her breath, Shadow wondered why they were staying loyal to him. They clearly knew what he did; who would listen to him after he became a killer?

Probably some threats, she realized. Like, “I’ll take away all your valuables unless you work for me and never stop respecting me!” Stupid Cactus. That was totally something he would do, but the soldiers NEEDED to figure that out.

Clenching her talons into fists, she wriggled with an annoying sense of helplessness. She’d felt this way before, like when Torment taunted her and there was nothing she could do about it since Mother was standing right behind them. Except this was worse, because now, a killer was on the rampage. Well, not exactly “rampage”, but with him around, more dragons could die!

Her claws slid out instinctively. She had to tell the soldiers somehow. But what would she say? She didn’t know where to start, since it would be pretty hard to convince them that their master was evil.

Taking a deep inhale, she walked closer to pale brown soldier, Jackal, hoping she could deliver an amazing speech that caused him to say, “Ohh, okay, let’s abandon this dumb dragon, like we should have done long ago!”

Shadow cleared her throat, her legs feeling like thick vines. Jackal was listening to Cactus talk, and he didn’t even seem to hear Shadow. She tried again, clearing her throat a bit louder this time. He didn’t even seem to know anyone was behind him, desperately trying to get his attention without yelling across the whole room.

''Maybe he’s deaf? Or maybe he just has really bad hearing.'' She sighed and walked over to his chair, until she could feel the heat radiating off of his scales. She was terrified, but she didn’t dare show it as she lifted her arm and pulled one talon towards his shoulder. She tapped it, hoping he would notice.

But it didn’t make contact with his scales. Instead, it swept through them as if he was a ghost.

And then she remembered. She was dreaming, she obviously couldn’t touch him or get anyone’s attention! That was why they hadn’t noticed her earlier. So she had to find a DIFFERENT way to warn the SandWings of Cactus’ tyranny. That would be so fun.

Just go there yourself, bonehead, scolded an impatient voice in her head.

And possibly get murdered by Cactus for real this time? she retorted, narrowing her eyes. It was hopeless, a dragonet like her warning a whole army, which would probably not even be successful, because who would listen to her? She was just a useless dragonet who’s cranky and stubborn and weird.

''What are you thinking, Shadow? Use your animus magic!'' The voice in her head was buzzing like a fly. Shadow wished it was a fly, then she could squash it easily, into a pile of disgusting mush.

Pressing her talons against her forehead, she answered, ''Come on, Char seriously said I would go crazy if I kept using it. Neither of us would want that, would we?''

    The annoying thoughts continued, as if it wanted to prove her wrong constantly. One enchantment won’t hurt, will it?

Considering for a moment, she raised her head. “I’d rather just go to his palace than use my magic.” She shut her mouth, realizing she’d said that out loud. But she meant what she’d said, there weren’t any other ideas, and this one was far better than going insane. She pricked her ears, remembering that Cactus was still droning on about stuff, and she wanted to hear it.

“—still, assign Sahara and Harmattan to guard the castle. We don’t want any uninvited guests,” he was saying. “Please get those guards now.” Cactus nodded to a pale-colored dragon at the table, who bowed and quickly scurried out of the room. Another nearby soldier, who Shadow recognized as Caracal, sat up straighter, addressing everyone’s attention.

“And Cactus, we have something for you,” the soldier said, her expression unreadable.

The master’s black eyes lit up, as if he was containing his excitement. “Well, what are you waiting for, Jackal? Bring it to me!”

Shadow heard her mutter, “It’s Caracal, sir,” before she turned around and opened a closet with golden handles. When she came to Cactus, she was holding a strange-shaped cloth, which had a metal extension at the bottom that closed and opened the pouch when it was pulled.

“Created by the kingdom’s finest workers, made with the thickest cloth on the markets,” Caracal said, a hint of fear in her voice, but some excitement as well.

Upon seeing the weird tiny sack, Cactus frowned slightly. “And… um, what is it, exactly?”

“It’s a tail barb cover, Master. So that you don’t kill dragons.” The soldier said.

Snarling, the dragon shook his head, his necklaces clanking. The other dragons around him looked nervous, as if he would murder them all in one second. One soldier began to back away, but Cactus hissed at him, and he rushed back to the table.

“Please, it’s for your own good. At least just try it on?” another dragon asked hesitantly.

Smoke billowed from Cactus’s large nostrils as they flared angrily. “How is it for my own good if I have no defense?” he challenged, ears twitching. The SandWIng soldiers looked around, waiting for someone to respond. When nobody else did, Jackal looked at Cactus.

“We will protect you, Master. Won’t we?” He turned his head to gaze at the other soldiers, urgency in his beady black eyes. They all slowly nodded, agreeing in unison, but Shadow noticed a hint of reluctance in the way they shared glances at each other with uncertainty.

Without waiting for Cactus to decline, Jackal rushed up, clutching the small pouch, and slid it over the master’s tail barb. His talons shook with fear as he pulled away and returned to his chair with wide eyes. Shadow could sense fierce anger, but all the soldiers seemed worried about what furious things he would say to them. They could already see their master narrowing his eyes and opening his mouth to scold them.

“TRUST ME, I AM…” Cactus stopped himself, clenching his jaw. “I am lucky to have soldiers who care for me so much.”

He was clearly just hiding his anger, but the SandWing soldiers sighed with relief. A few of them began bowing down to him, thanking him profusely. A pale yellow SandWing tilted his head towards the doorway, and the soldiers nodded, and streamed out of the room in an orderly line.

Cactus was left alone in the war pavillion. He glanced around, his eyes widening to the size of giant black beetles. Shadow could barely focus on him through her weariness, but her head lifted up when she saw the SandWing’s gaze locking on her own. But he couldn’t see her… could he?

“I need to know what’s worth killing. I feel the presence of my victims looming over me.” With a deep, heavy sigh, he began to walk to Shadow, never leaving her gaze, until his warm, foul-smelling breath nearly burned her snout.

She wanted to run. Or, maybe even ask him, “What are you doing?” or just claw him in the face right that second. But her legs felt alarmingly stiff, like cracked stone. She didn’t want to move a muscle.

Cactus tore his necklace off his neck, stepped through Shadow’s ghostly body, and placed the jewelry on his dresser. Shadow took in a sharp inhale and stared at the dragon’s outstretched talons as he grabbed a wooden statue of a dragon, bearing a spear-like tail and massive spikes. It was a statue of a DeathWing.

“Should I even be asking you for advice?” whispered Cactus, barely louder than a whisper. “What have you done that was ever good, Scorch? Look what you got me into!” Flicking his tail, the SandWing master slammed the wooden dragon against the dresser, stalking out of the room.

Shadow let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. He hadn’t seen her, he’d been staring at the statue, right behind her. She wondered what the statue did or if Cactus was just a talented sculptor? But it looked super old, a thousand years ancient, at the least. Maybe Scorch had made it?

The edges of her consciousness (or was it unconsciousness?) seemed to blur together, as swirls and flickering dots scattered throughout her brain. Was that SandWing meeting all a dream… or did it actually hap…

Suddenly, the world began to flash in a whirlwind of darkness and confusion. The stone crumbled. The dark walls caved in. Icy talons gripped her, sending a numb feeling through her body, and she was thrust back into reality.

CHAPTER SIX

“Come on, Shadow, wake up!” A voice rang through her brain, the words mushing together into what sounded like a foreign tongue. Lightning seemed to strike her brain, as her eyes suddenly burst open into narrow slits.

Moaning softly, she rolled around and found herself staring up at the blurry figure of a SandWing. Blinking furiously, her vision began to focus, and she finally recognized the face of Char.

"Char…?" Shadow murmured, flopping down uncomfortably on the hot stone. The sun beat down on her scales, and she realized it was morning. It had all been a dream, like she'd thought.

Many years ago...

Scorch fiddled with the clay figurine in his talons. It was a carving he'd made himself, of a broad-shouldered large dragon with spikes along its back and spines across its tail. Nobody but Scorch knew the power in this little wood carving. Nobody knew how it could change their lives forever. The dragons who had wronged him would regret it the most, once they saw Scorch's power.

Cupping the figure tightly in his claws, pulling it close to his face, he whispered, "Enchant this figurine so that the moment it hits the ground, a tribe of assassins will be born. Two dragons, just like this carving, clearing the way for more of the species to rise, seeking revenge upon my enemies." Scorch cackled, stroking his wooden dragon. "They shall be called DeathWings, and together we will prosper."

He snarled, and then, opening his claws, the figurine fell, fell, fell to the ground, and the history of Pyrrhia fell down with it.

CHAPTER ONE

"Shadow… flip, now strike. Don't give yourself away! Now LUNGE, Torment, teeth bared! Claws out! Spikes erect!" Mother stood on a jutting stone, surveying her children's fighting skills. Shadow struggled to flip around to face Torment, and clumsily batted at her brother. Torment laughed mockingly and leaped in a dark blur, wrestling with her and painfully pulling her tail.

"OW! Torment, quit it!" Shadow pleaded as her opponent pinned her down against the rocky floor.

"Shadow," her mother sighed, narrowing her eyes. "DeathWings don't politely ASK to stop fighting. It ends when we are victorious." Her nostrils flared angrily, then she glanced at Torment. "Good boy, Torment, we'll keep working tomorrow. As for YOU, Shadow, we need to talk."

"Yes, Mother," Shadow sighed sadly, plodding to her sleeping cave dejectedly. ''Why do DeathWings always FIGHT? Is there more to us… or is this all I can become?''

    Mother glared sternly as she curled up into a ball and wondered why she was even created. She had been told of the story of their creation, from many generations ago. She didn't like the idea of being enchanted… especially being enchanted to do evil. Every other DeathWing seemed to think it was okay. Was something wrong with her to care for other dragons?

All of a sudden, she heard loud footsteps at the entrance of the cavern. Shadow twisted her neck, only to see her mother and turn back again.

"Shadow," Mother said. She walked to her daughter, puffing out her spikes. "Don't deny who you are. I tried long ago, to run away from my destiny. I ran into the forest, living by myself for days. That's when the NightWings attacked. And I got this." She pointed to a nasty set of old scars on her face, then glanced down at a bruise on her shoulder. "That's why I'm doing this. I don't want you to learn this the hard way. You'd be nowhere without Scorch, and me, and your brother. We're all shaping you into who you're meant to be."

For a minute, she felt a strong surge of hatred for Scorch, the SandWing who'd enchanted her species a long time ago. The animus hadn't made her to live happily, he'd made her to get revenge. She wasn't meant to be brave and fight for victory, happily ever after. She was nothing but an act of selfishness.

"But MOTHERRRR!" she wailed. "What if I don't wanna be like OTHER DRAGONS? What about what I want?"

"Nobody cares what you want, Shadow. You just have to live with it." Mother sighed and pushed Shadow up. "Now… about the fighting."

After a day of fighting practice, Shadow had every right to be exhausted. There were too many types of flips and strikes, and she wasn’t good at it anyway. It seemed much easier to just make peace with other dragons. But she couldn’t be sure if the other dragons would want that. She’d never seen any other kind of dragon before, but she had heard the rumors, and was eager to see them someday.

She thought about this as she stepped through the dead ferns into the main cavern, where the villagers held events and traded. But today it was different. A cluster of DeathWings stood in a circle, poking their heads and puffing out their spikes excitedly.

Shadow followed the crowd and wove through the dragons until she could see a dull yellow dragon standing on a tall stalagmite. It was a male dragon, like none she’d ever seen before. He was a strange color, with spiny flat scales across his neck and going down his back. A golden crest of feathery scales, starting at his snout, went along his spine and around his tail, which was decorated with a silver tail band encrusted with sapphires. In fact, the dragon was covered in jewelry, necklaces draped around his neck and a golden crown resting on his flat head.

Wow, she thought. Is that… a SANDWING?

Suddenly, cheers erupted in the cavern, bouncing across the cave walls. Once the echoing stopped, the large SandWing took a low bow and cleared his throat.

“Hello, my DeathWings!” the dragon howled. “Today is going to be quite a special day… it could possibly be the end of the IceWings… if we fight stronger than ever, and you listen to ALL OF MY COMMANDS.”

Shadow growled quietly. This dragon was being treated like a king, and he was acting like he had so much authority. Who did he think he was?

“Yes, and will we be going to the Ice Kingdom, Master?” a nearby dragon asked respectfully.

‘No, Hazard, of course not. They would see us coming, black and gray and red against that white snow… I have a BETTER idea. Now listen to me and you will hear.”

“Yes, Master Cactus!” All of the DeathWings roared and bowed so that their heads hit the ground. Shadow gasped, glancing at the SandWing. She had heard of Cactus before. If she was remembering correctly, he was Scorch’s great-great-great grandson or something like that. He had been in command for many, many years, according to Mother, but she had never seen him until now.

“Oh, boy! It’s Cactus!” She tried to act super excited like everyone else, but really, she was suppressing anger and fear. “Stupid SandWings… they think they’re so awesome.”

She glared at Cactus, who was blabbering about their dumb plan, and felt a jab in her side. She quickly turned to see a male DeathWing who looked about her age. She growled, hoping he hadn’t heard her muttering.

“Hey… what’d you just say… about SandWings?” He narrowed his eyes and lifted his spikes. Oh, now she was in trouble.

“Err… nothing, just that, um… ”

“That they’re stupid, and they think they’re so awesome?” The DeathWing grinned mischievously. “I TOTALLY agree!”

“Err… you do?” Shadow said.

“Yeah! My daddy says that he’s met a ton of SandWings since he’s Cactus’s first in command.” the dragon answered. “He tells me they’re all terrible. So, why do YOU hate them?”

“I don’t exactly know, but, I mean, just look at him now!” They both turned their heads to see Cactus taking long, dramatic bows as DeathWings cheered excitedly. “They all love him! And SCORCH probably just enchanted us to obey him, because he was greedy for revenge. I mean, I think the rumors are true, that if you use animus magic too much, then… your soul wastes away. Think about it, Mr. DeathWing. We are nothing more than an evil SandWing enchantment!” Shadow took a deep inhale as she finished, then sighed, glancing at the dragon.

“Okay… first of all, calm down! And second of all, my name is actually NOT Mr. DeathWing, believe it or not.” The male dragon smirked. “I… am Strike of the DeathWings. Pleased to meet you, yes, autographs are totally free, and I do require applause for this grand introduction.”

Shadow giggled and slowly clapped sarcastically.

“And yes, I do want to know your name.” Strike added, flattening down his spikes and twitching his ears.

“I’m Shadow!” she said, and erupted into a fit of coughing.

“Okay, Shadow… well, I actually think we work well together, don’t you?” Strike muttered nervously. Shadow could tell he was embarrassed to ask that.

Shadow smiled. “Well, yeah, I mean—”

“HEY, you two DeathWings, over there!” a screech erupted from the front of the cavern. They both quickly whipped around to see Cactus, glaring sternly at them. “Quit talking and start LISTENING! Or, are you too lovey-dovey to pay any attention?”

If words could kill, Shadow and Strike would definitely be dead by now.

“N-no, Cactus… we, uh… we were just talking!” Strike said.

“That’s Master Cactus to you!” the SandWing snarled. “And don’t say no to me, if you want to stay alive.”

“Yes, Master Cactus! We shall never EVER disrespect you EVER AGAIN, not in our whole entire lives! Right, Shadow?” Strike smirked and waited for Shadow to go along with his joke.

“Yes, OF COURSE! For you are the great, epic Master who holds ALL THE POWER IN THE WORLD!” Shadow held herself back, tempted to erupt in laughter.

But Cactus took no offense to these comments. Instead, he beamed with pride, apparently thinking the dragonets were being serious. Dragons glared at Strike and Shadow, but they didn’t care. They both agreed that they shouldn’t have to live under the power of a stupid SandWing, forced to be who others wanted them to be.

“Okay, DeathWIngs, do you all understand our plan to invade the IceWings?” Cactus asked, staring at the dragons with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, sir!” the DeathWings yelled in unison. All of the DeathWings except Shadow and Strike.

“I will build the underground tunnels, along with four other DeathWings of my choosing. And those four DeathWings will be… Agony, Storm, Blade, and… how about.. Strike?” Cactus smiled at his own idea.

“Uh… no, Master Cactus, I— I don’t really know how to dig tunnels. I’d be absolutely no help at all. You’d better choose someone else.”

“Oh, all right. Shadow, then.” The SandWing smirked with pure ferocity.

“N-n-no, please, no, Master!” both DeathWings yelled.

“Okay, then, Strike it is.” Cactus decided. “The four dragons who I have just addressed, please meet me tonight, when the sun sets below the mountains. We start immediately. And I absolutely do NOT tolerate anyone being late. I expect my great-great-great grandfather’s creations to be PUNCTUAL, or else that was sure a mistake in his enchantments.”

“Of course, Master Cactus,” said a dark gray DeathWing with a bony face, who Shadow thought was named Agony. “We are not mistakes.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cactus hissed, his forked tongue sliding out like a snake. “Well, now that I have mentioned everything… meeting adjourned.”

CHAPTER TWO

Shadow slumped as she trotted slowly to her cramped, dark cave. She felt so stupid. She had forced her new friend to dig tunnels, and worse yet, as a plot to destroy the IceWings! And, as if it couldn’t get any worse, he would be working for Cactus! What had she done?

She looked up at the mountain that had belonged to her great-grandfather, many generations ago. It had lasted long enough to be passed down to her mother, Raven.

The large mountain had many holes, little caves that were used as rooms. Shadow’s cave, of course, was the smallest, while her mother’s was the biggest. (“It’s my mountain, after all,” was her common excuse.) Torment usually stayed in his cave, the one at the very top of the mountain. The entrance was very small and a very tight squeeze for Shadow, but Torment was small enough to fit through, and because of that, he loved his room. It was private, which was why she barely ever saw him except during training.

So she was shocked when she saw her brother, hunched by HER stone table, in HER room. Searching through HER books.

“What are you doing?” Shadow growled accusingly.

“Why would you care?” he answered, apparently shocked that he had been discovered. “I’m just READING.”

Shadow stifled a laugh. She didn’t think Torment had ever read, not in his life. “Why do I highly doubt that? I bet you don’t even understand the words.”

Her brother snarled defensively. “Of course I know how to read! This one, for instance,” he pointed to a thick book, about the history of Pyrrhia, “is about Pyrrhia’s fascinating mystery.”

“It’s HISTORY, not MYSTERY, you little bee-brain!” Shadow burst into laughter, rolling on the ground hysterically.

Torment hissed angrily. “Well, I was close enough.”

“Not close enough to stay in my room. Get out, now!” Shadow roared.

“Okay, okay!” Torment answered, sighing. “But, for the record, I am not the bee-brain here.”

Shadow watched as her brother flew out, up to his own cave. That was definitely strange. Why had he come to “read” in her room, and then given up so easily?

She hunched by her desk, opening up drawers, making sure Torment hadn’t messed with anything. Everything seemed to be in place. Her dreamvisitor, her love potion, the bottle of RainWing venom... Wait… the last drawer was left a crack open… just barely noticeable.

As she clasped her talons around the last drawer handle, and pulled it open slowly, she saw… the place where her most precious item was… was empty.

It was her most prized possession… a letter from her father, from almost a day before he was murdered by the IceWings. She’d even memorized all the words, the heartfelt letters, scrawled together to form his last statements:

Dearest Shadow,

''I want you to know that you have the power to change the way we see the world. You have the power of the stars and moons in your talons. You are an animus. Think of it as a secret, just between you and me. Use this power wisely, to change the world for the better. Do not be scared, don’t let your fear waver. Keep being yourself and don’t let this magic change you. Now, I insist you go to the library and borrow some scrolls about animus magic. And, while you’re at it, try enchanting this parchment. You’ll see you can do just about anything. But please, keep this power a secret and don’t let it go out of control. Remember I love you. I will always be there for you.''

Her father had always told her that animus magic was the most sacred power there was. According to Ancient Animus History, an animus could do practically anything, except bring dragons back from the dead. However, there had never been an animus in DeathWing history, and all of the animus scrolls were made decades ago, before DeathWings even roamed the earth. So, they didn't exactly help much.

So… was she the first DeathWing animus? Honestly, she preferred not knowing. If she was an animus, she'd either go insane (if the scrolls were right) or her magic would be used for terrible SandWing stuff. If she wasn't, she'd just feel stupid and ordinary. She liked feeling as if she might be special, even if she actually was totally normal.

But Shadow had realized that there were some good sides to her possible magic, so when she turned four, she had decided to enchant her father's letter, like he'd told her to. She had taken the parchment out of her bottom drawer, and whispered, "I enchant this parchment to cause the holder to… to have the power to… draw something, and it'll come to life!"

The parchment had twitched after she had finished the enchantment. A tiny vibration, barely visible to the unfocused eye. Shadow had shivered with a mix of fear and excitement. She'd rushed to her desk and, in the empty space at the bottom, she had drawn a bright red apple.

And, before her eyes, her sketch had gained realism, the dimensions forming and distorting, until a perfect crisp red apple had popped out. From the paper.

She WAS an animus.

Years after years, she'd spent time drawing and drawing and drawing. The parchment had never cleared, because as soon as her drawings came to life, her sketches vanished. It truly was magic, and she'd listened to her father. She never told a single soul, not even Mother or Torment.

Now, she had still managed to keep it a complete secret. She had stopped using the power, even though it was only a small enchantment. She now knew the true dangers of her sacred magic. She'd promised she'd never use it again, but she'd still kept the paper, just in case. It could determine the balance between life and death.

And now the parchment was gone.

She screeched angrily, causing an echo to roll across the walls of her room. She KNEW who committed the crime… he couldn't have made it more obvious.

"TORMENTTTT!" Shadow bellowed, blasting herself out of the cave, smoke billowing from her nostrils and sizzling in her wake as she sailed across the bleary sky.

She pulled back her wings, tensing them up as she flung her airborne body into Torment’s tiny cave entrance. Her head and neck squeezed through, but she couldn’t go through beyond her wings, which stuck out hopelessly from behind the opening. However, Shadow snarled when she couldn’t see her brother in his cave, and she pulled her neck out furiously. Where had he gone…?

Shadow, still flying around the caves, brought her talons into a fist as she surveyed the land. Then, she suddenly saw him… a tiny, dragon-shaped speck, far in the distance. Heading west.

And then, with a jolt of horror, she knew where Torment was going.

He was going to Cactus’s castle.

To reveal Shadow’s biggest secret.

CHAPTER THREE

Shadow was flying… flying like her life depended on it.

Her life didn’t depend on it, but her whole reputation did.

NO WAY was she going to live her life as Cactus’s tool. And NO WAY was Torment going to be the one to ruin it for her.

She tilted her wings and pulled in her legs, speeding up and catching the wind under the folds in her large gray wings. She sighed, knowing she’d never catch up to Torment in time.

She breathed heavily, thinking hard, before picking out a small dirty pebble from between her claws. She held it in front of her, whispering, “I enchant this pebble to fly straight to Torment, hit him square in the face, and cause him to be slower than a snail.”

That was it. Her first real enchantment. Not exactly a prideful or exciting moment in her life, but at least it was for a good reason. She couldn’t let the secret of her magic get out. She would be the first animus DeathWing. Her power would be devoted to evil… She couldn’t live with that.

After a split second of waiting, the tiny fragment of rock shot out of her talons, making a beeline for Torment, who was still a small dot in the distance.

And then he became a larger dot. And then, she could make out his bony figure, and see him clutching the parchment in his talons.

“Hey, Torment!” she yelped, which startled her brother and caused him to miss a wingbeat, abruptly lowering in the sky for a moment before pulling himself up in a huff of anger.

Torment attempted to fly faster, but Shadow easily caught up to her brother’s slow wingbeats.

She said his name again, but she barely even had to whisper it for him to hear. Torment turned abruptly, staring at her, square in the face, with narrowed eyes.

“Hey, animus. What’re you going to do now, enchant my teeth to fall out?” he hissed, clutching her father’s letter tight in his talons, gripping it so hard that it almost crumpled.

“I MIGHT if you keep flying to that wimp’s castle.”

“Hmmm…. Wimp? I can only think of one WIMP… but you don’t have a castle.”

Shadow bared her teeth and tightened her claws into fists. “You are the only wimp here right now. And wimps DESERVE TO HAVE THEIR TEETH FALL OUT!” She could almost feel her scales simmering with fury.

This seemed to really get Torment mad. In the air, he quickly lunged for Shadow and dug his claws… just below her throat. This slammed her to the ground, far below. Her back hit the grass and the wind was sharply knocked out of her.

“I enchant my scales to give my body invulnerability to Torment’s attack, and to heal any pain I have already received!” she hissed to herself quickly, out of Torment’s earshot, unsure if it would work. But, sure enough, she felt a surge of power sear though her gray scales, almost as if they were as hard as diamonds. Relaxation rippled in smooth pulses across her belly, shoulders, and back, slowly easing the pain until she felt stronger than before.

Pulling herself up with barely any effort, she reeled back up into the sky, grabbing Torment’s shoulders and easily pushing him back. He flipped around and flew at her, but he was way too slow, and she was way too powerful. Shadow’s tail smashed him in the side, sending him flying hopelessly the opposite direction. But her brother wouldn’t give up. He winced, rushing up to Shadow once again, and snarled, with all his yellow teeth showing.

“You wretched monster,” Torment growled. “You possess this sacred magic and you do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about it? Nothing to help your tribe?” He flew a bit closer and swiped at his sister, narrowly missing her face. But Shadow grinned, knowing it wouldn’t have hurt her anyway.

“I would help my tribe, if they weren’t a bunch of war-obsessed idiots!” Shadow answered angrily, suddenly imagining Torment with squid tentacles instead of legs. She laughed at the thought of it, then turned back to him. He seemed to be trying hard not to screech.

“War-obsessed? Idiots?” he yelped. “The DeathWings are the strongest tribe. Of course we use our power to its advantage. AND WE ARE NOT IDIOTS! We--”

Just then, her brother shook uncontrollably, his legs jiggling and stretching. He screamed as his legs morphed… into squid tentacles.

Shadow’s heart missed a beat, and she could barely even fly with the shock of this magic. She hadn’t done anything….

“SHADOW!” Torment attempted to rake his claws across her face, before realizing he had no claws now. His tentacles wobbled around and Shadow cracked up.

“Now, I enchant Torment’s earring to force him back home, and make him forget everything that happened once he’s there!” Shadow said, giggling. Torment’s skull earring tugged at his ear, and he was quickly dragged back home, screeching all the way.

Shadow, quite satisfied with herself, flew a bit further away from home, not quite sure where she was going. Eventually, she reached tall peaks, with the sun setting behind them. As she flew closer to watch the sunset, she heard dragons, talking with their deep voices hushed.

She pricked her ears as she immediately recognized Cactus’s voice.

“--tunnels, under here. Storm, you start, dig north toward the Ice Kingdom. Strike, you go down there and help. Agony, Blade, you will come with me to the other side, at the border of the Ice Kingdom, and dig the tunnel in that direction. That way, our groups should meet in the middle.” She heard Cactus’s claws dig into the sand.

So, he wasn’t even at his castle after all. He was with the group of DeathWings. To dig the tunnels, to sabotage the Ice Kingdom in secret.

Suddenly, she heard a complaining voice… Blade, maybe. “This is going to take forever. If we had an animus this would be so much easier.”

Shadow, still hiding on the other side of the mountain, tensed, not making a sound as Blade’s voice got closer.

"I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is… why didn't your great-great-however-many-greats grandfather make his enchantment have at least ONE DeathWing animus?"

She heard another voice — probably Agony — pipe into the conversation. "Yeah, if you wanted power, wouldn't animus be the first thing that comes to mind?"

Cactus snarled, baring his teeth and smashing his tail against Agony's side. The large DeathWing seemed mostly unfazed, until dark maroon blood welled up from a deep, wide puncture mark where he'd hit her.

Suddenly, she took a shallow gasp, and convulsed into a motionless heap. She jerked her legs a few times before falling stiff after a few minutes, showing that she was lifeless.

Shadow peeked from behind the mountain in utter shock. ''Cactus had killed Agony. Cactus had killed his own servant.'' Straining her neck, Shadow saw the SandWing’s expression of shock, and Blade’s bony face, which gave away nothing. But she could tell the DeathWing was devastated, by the way her shoulders drooped and how her tail brushed the sand, sending a cloud of dust in Cactus’s face. He glared, blinking, but said nothing. The large SandWing started digging instead, pushing Agony’s body aside.

Just then, Shadow remembered Strike. He was on the other side, far from the Ice Kingdom, with Storm. What if Storm tried to kill her friend? The thought of a DeathWIng doing that to another dragon made her shudder, but she knew that it was more than possible. She flapped her wings, making a deep echo across the mountainside, and flew up in pursuit of Strike.

A jabbing pull on her tail caused Shadow to shriek, and she was violently pulled down, her head smashing against the ground. Sand sprayed across her vision as she coughed. As soon as she had the strength to pull herself up, she saw the talon that had pulled her down.

Clenched into a fist, claws shimmering in the dull sunset, were the talons of Cactus himself. His spiked cuff was thrown to the ground and covered in sand, while his black claws twitched around Shadow’s tail. Cactus reared up, lifting her upside down in the air, while Shadow wriggled, attempting to shake out of his grip. But the SandWing was too strong.

“What are you doing here, little dragonet?” Cactus hissed, his forked tongue sliding in and out. “Eavesdropping? Spying… to tell the IceWings of my plans?”

Shadow shook her head rapidly, making herself dizzy. “No, no! I wanted to… see my friend! Strike!” That was only half a lie, she realized.

“Oh, that excuse for a DeathWing! So he’s your boyfriend? Why, that’s an interesting choice. He can’t even seem to slide his claws out.” The broad, pale golden-brown dragon grabbed his spiky arm cuff, clasping it on his ankle with difficulty.

“He’s nice, you’d see that if you even CARED ABOUT US AT ALL!” Shadow screeched, almost unaware of what she was saying. “All you EVER cared about is YOURSELF! In your mind, we are just a load of scavenger droppings, only created to do YOUR dirty work for you! Since you can’t even DIG A TUNNEL, so don’t go around saying we can’t do anything! You’re the lazy, annoying, snotty brat! Not Strike, not me, not ANY OF US!” She took a deep gasp in, panting. Her throat felt sore, knowing that she had just spit out all of her feelings. To the one dragon she was trying to hide them from. But yet, she couldn’t let him go around assuming everything. Shadow swallowed, and added, “Strike isn’t my boyfriend.”

Cactus squeezed her spiky tail, sending a jolt of pain through her body, before dropping her to the ground once again. He curled up his lip, showing his fangs, and slashed at the side of her face. She felt dizzy and weak, and her vision blurred. She could see the bleary outline of the SandWing, lifting up his tail to her chest. Instinct caused Shadow to roll to the side, her arm blocking her belly, and suddenly a searing pain, just below her shoulder. A flash of black spots flooded her brain. A snarl of fury… Blood…  A poison SandWing tail barb.

Her thoughts seemed to end as darkness took over, and her mind went black.

CHAPTER FOUR

Shadow’s ears pulsed. Blood seemed to surge through her veins for the first time. She heaved herself up… yet she didn’t. She had no strength, she could barely even move without her body stinging like crazy. But mostly her arm, near the lower side of her shoulder. Why was she hurting so much? And where was she?

Suddenly, she heard whispers from about a tail-length away, but she couldn’t move her neck to see the dragons who spoke.

“...killed two DeathWings…”

“...Calls himself a master?...he’s sure not setting a great example…”

“...The darker one’s been dead for a while, it seems.”

Footsteps pattered closer against creaking wood boards, as a wave of cold seemed to rush across Shadow’s scales. Now that she was less numb, she realized that it was quite cold. She smelled hints of freshwater, but in a cooler, deeper sort of way. Other scents were mixed in, of dragons and dried leaves and cold things. She squinted and glanced up above her. A drop of water immediately fell onto her snout. It dripped down uncomfortably, before going down the side of her neck. She was in some kind of bed, below… frozen water. Ice, it was called. Shadow had heard rumors and stories of ice, but she’d never actually seen it before. Mother had said not many DeathWings ever did.

All of a sudden, the talonsteps became louder, and a faint radiation of frost seemed to envelope her. A freezing cold, gentle talon swept across the side of her face. But no pain came. This cold dragon didn’t intend to hurt her.

“I’m pretty sure this lighter one’s dead too, Blizzard.”

“Okay, let’s move her to the hot water spring, it’ll clean out her body. She looks pretty badly beaten up… I’ll bet by a SandWing.”

“Probably that master who controls those DeathWings! Well, anyway, let’s move the body to the spring.”

Shadow’s body tensed as she was picked up by two freezing shoulders. She heard faint grunting, and the gentle rocking of the dragons picking her up lulled her. An aura of calm swept across her body in a smooth, icy wave. Her eyelids were pulled down by the force of exhaustion, and she fell into the darkness once again.

Shadow’s eyes flashed open as fiery warmth spread through her flesh and bones. She looked down quickly, and noticed steamy hot water, bubbling and sloshing up to her neck. It practically felt like it was sizzling through her scales.

“AIEEEEEEE!” she shrieked, leaping instinctively out of the water pool, sending splashes that brought steam rising through the melted snow.

Shadow backed away as her arm buckled, but not before she fell knee-deep into the frosty snow. This caused a small dragon to rush over to her. Ahhhh! Shadow thought, ''THAT WAS SO HOT! And… my arm hurts so much!''

The dragon who came over was a white dragon with pale grayish-blue speckles on her wings. She looked a bit young, only a little older than a dragonet.

“Blizzard! Quick, come here, the little dragon’s alive!” The dragon’s words echoed strangely in her head. Her brain seemed to pulse, feeling a raging headache starting to form. A second pale dragon popped out from an icy cave, rushing out with a shocked expression on her face. This dragon was a shade of blue lighter than the sky, with some white splotches like clouds. She looked a good amount older than the other one, at least double its age. But she had the same spikes like icicles, flowing from the back of her head to her spine.

“No, Flurry, you said she was dead!” answered the older dragon. “You couldn’t have possibly been wrong, right?”

“Stop it, Blizzard!” the younger one, Flurry, said, gently jabbing the other one in the side. “We just need to help her… don’t we?” Flurry and Blizzard towered over Shadow, whose legs were still sinking into the snow. Her head kept burning, while trying to escape the snow and understand their conversation at the same time. She cleared her throat a few times, before finally gathering the strength to speak.

“Um…” she muttered, her throat rasping. “Wh-who are you…?”

“Oh, us?” responded the older pale blue dragon, Blizzard. “We’re IceWings… but, minor detail, we’re DeathWings’ enemies.”

Shadow gulped. What were they going to do to her? Wait, didn’t IceWings have deadly frostbreath? She moved her legs around in the snow, trying to pull them free. But they wouldn’t budge. She was stuck, and these IceWings were going to freeze her like an ice cube and eat her for dinner.

Just then, the small dragon, Flurry, crouched and crawled under Shadow. Hmm… was this an IceWing murder strategy? But instead of claws raking through her chest, she felt cold scales and a strong back against her belly. She was getting lifted up! Shadow thrashed her legs, and they were able to come out from this height, sending flakes of snow everywhere. Including Blizzard’s face.

Flurry rushed out from under Shadow, panting. Blizzard frowned angrily, shaking the snow off her snout. “Please go now, to your own territory with your own wretched master.”

Flurry sighed. “But… don’t we want to know how she got hurt? And maybe help her more? She hasn’t even been cured for her venom wound!” The young IceWing’s ears lifted. “And maybe she’s nice, even though DeathWings hate us and they like SandWings, and we hate SandWings, but, um, maybe we could get along! And maybe she could spy and tell us all of the SandWing plans! Wouldn’t that be cool, Blizzard? Huh?”

This made Blizzard flare her nostrils and growl, sending out a tiny puff of frost. “Do what you want, but I’m definitely NOT hanging around with a sworn enemy who will probably kill us in moments.” The IceWing swished her tail and walked away to the ice cave.

Shadow and Flurry sat there awkwardly for a minute.

Shadow coughed.

Flurry took a breath in and shifted her talons.

“So… um. Err, how old are you… DeathWing?” the young dragon said after another moment.

“Six thousand years old.” responded Shadow, glancing at her wounded arm. An ugly gash showed near the top of her arm from behind a piece of tree bark. A few brown, rotting vines tied around her arm held the bark in place.

“Ha.” Flurry said, as Shadow looked up quickly. “Yeah, and I’m eight thousand.”

The DeathWing bent down and sniffed at the putrid vines, wrinkling her nose at the gross scent. The IceWing clearly noticed her disgust.

“Sorry, those were the only ones in our supply, don’t expect a flourishing garden of leaves and vines in here!” she said, glancing around at the icy hut.

“So, what is this place anyway?” asked Shadow. She stepped closer to Flurry, avoiding putting any weight on her crippled arm.

The white dragon smiled weakly. “Oh, this shabby thing? It’s an igloo… Like a hut made out of ice,” she added when she saw the DeathWing’s confused expression. “It’s kind of like my den, my home, sort of. Well, Blizzard’s too of course.”

Shadow tipped her head. “Are you and Blizzard sisters?”

“No,” Flurry answered. “We’re cousins, though. We were both exiled from the Ice Kingdom after talking to a SandWing.”

“Talking to a SandWing? What’s the big deal with that?” asked Shadow.

“SandWings--well, they’re kind of the all-powerful creators of evil, do you see what I mean?” The young IceWing squinted at the gray dragonet in front of her. “That kind of behavior isn’t tolerated in the Ice Kingdom. If you even speak a word to a SandWing, you’ll be bumped down to the lowest rank… or if you make a decent conversation with one, you’ll be forced out of the kingdom.”

“Well, how come you had a conversation with a SandWing, if you knew it was wrong? Although I still don’t get why it’s wrong, but whatever…” Shadow muttered, lifting up her arm and gingerly tugging at one of the shriveled vines with her teeth.

Flurry’s spikes lowered with embarrassment, and she took a breath before she finally started to speak. “Char was nice, really. Well, nice to the IceWings, at least. He came here some time ago, and he--”

“Char! He’s that SandWing in my old history scroll! The evil traitor who betrayed the DeathWIngs and was a DISGRACE to his entire family!” Shadow said enthusiastically. That’d show Mother that at least she actually read her scrolls! “Now he lives in a cave somewhere, but the scroll said his exact whereabouts are unknown.”

Flurry huffed. “Unknown? Those SandWings and DeathWings are so dumb, they won’t even notice something under their noses!”

“Wait,” Shadow cut in, her eyes widening. “You know where he is?”

“Yeah, but even me, an idiot slug according to Blizzard, knows that I would NEVER tell a DeathWing private information like that.”

Shadow blinked. “But he’s a SandWing! It shouldn’t be private if DeathWIngs work for SandWings!”

Flurry sighed and let her shoulders roll back. “Ugh, okay. It’s in an underground cave, at the border between the Sand Kingdom and the Ice Kingdom. Near those mountains, you know where I’m talking about?”

“Yeah!” she answered. “Thats… that’s where I was when I was almost killed by Cactus!” Shadow’s ears lifted. She remembered everything now… Cactus pulling her down, she was going to check on…. Strike! Where was Strike?

“Hang on, Cactus?” Flurry answered, interrupting her flood of memories. “Isn’t he that evil SandWing? The one in charge of the DeathWings?”

“Yeah, he’s sure evil. He only cares about himself and all the other dragons just BLINDLY follow his commands. And he’s a cold-blooded killer, too!” Shadow looked around, her eyes settling on Agony’s limp body, which was sitting in a hot-water pool just like Shadow’s. Even though Agony certainly wasn’t the best dragon in the continent, she still deserved to live. “Everyone could use another chance,” she whispered to herself.

Flurry sighed. A deep, empathetic sigh. She actually cared about Shadow. “Well… since I told you about Char… do you mind telling me about Cactus?” The IceWing pulled her claws in and out repeatedly, making marks in the loose snow.

Shadow thought for a second, and then slowly nodded her head. She began to explain all the details of Cactus… how he wore a spiked arm cuff on one of his ankles, and how he was selfish and came up with terrible plans, like how he was digging a tunnel to invade the Ice Kingdom from underground. And how they somehow hadn’t come across Char, probably because Cactus put up a fight early on, and killed one of his own DeathWings. And, she began to rant about how she had wanted to check on Strike but Cactus had seen her and poisoned her.

Flurry raised her tail in shock, but then squinted. “Why were you at the mountains in the first place, if you weren’t supposed to be there?”

“I kinda… got lost?” Shadow answered, feeling a sudden jolt of pain near her shoulder, but ignoring it. “Well, it's hard to explain. So, uh, my brother Torment was going to Cactus’s palace to warn him I was an animus because he snuck into my room and found my dad’s note in my dresser, and so… anyway, I enchanted him to not remember anything and then, I--um-- I sort of accidentally gave him squid tentacles? And then I just flew away like an idiot and then I heard Cactus and, yeah.”

“WAIT, WHAT? You’re an animus?” the white dragon stepped back in shock, a tiny glint of what looked like fear in her eyes.

“Oh,” Shadow slapped her forehead with her good talon. Why had she revealed that? To an IceWing, no less! “Yeah?”

Flurry sat up straight. “Then heal yourself! That would make my job so much easier, and I would tell Blizzard I did it! She’d be so proud of me!”

The DeathWing considered saying yes, but only because her arm would feel better. She had no reason to help this IceWing.

“Fine, but just because I don’t want to die. Go ahead and tell Blizzard your stupid lies, and how about I go back to telling my own?” Shadow said.

“What do you mean?” Flurry asked, clearly offended.

“Oh, nevermind,” she answered, turning around. “Just how I have to keep my powers a secret from everyone I know.”

Shadow sighed hopelessly and heard the IceWing mutter something about Char, before she bent her wings and lifted off into the sky. At first it was painful to move. Her wing joints tensed and her arm burned with pain. She slowed down and whispered, “I enchant this vine wrap so that once I take it off, my arm is good as new-- wait, no.” Shadow paused, realizing everyone would wonder how her wound had healed so quickly. “I re-enchant this vine wrap so that once I take it off, the puncture mark will still appear for a while, but it will not affect me in any way.” That way, if anybody saw her, they wouldn’t question her. She beamed with pride at her wonderful idea. She would be so wise with her magic, and she’d do the smartest things with it and never make a mistake. Except when she had given her brother squid tentacles. But that was a funny mistake, so it didn’t really count.

The vines around her upper arm suddenly began to move, energy humming through the tendrils. Comfort pierced through her scales and her muscles loosened. She felt more at ease than she had in a long time. She paused in midair and pulled off the tree bark wrap.

As she crossed the border and flew into the Sand Kingdom, Shadow noticed movement zigzag through the sand below. She swooped lower down, squinting. There it was. A dragon, well-camouflaged with the dull golden sand. He had darker splotches down his spine, and his one wing sstriped with faint black lines at the edges.

Shadow's talons sunk into the sand as she hit the ground. She rushed across the terrain, spraying sand as she went.

"Hey, you! SandWing!" she yelled. Good thing she could trust this guy. SandWings and DeathWings were on good terms.

But the dust-colored dragon took one glance at her before breaking into a run.

"Wait!" Shadow rushed after him urgently. Something inside of her just wanted to meet this SandWing. She stumbled up a sand dune, catching sight of his tail-tip vanishing behind another hill. Flying would be quicker, she realized. But then why wouldn't he fly? Was he not really trying to escape her?

She felt more strength in her muscles as she took flight above the desert. She caught up to him easily, and ducked down, descending right in front of the dragon.

The small SandWing was more muscular up-close. He had an arched back and one of his wings was missing, with only a wingbud showing. His eyes were deep hazel, nearly black. They narrowed when he saw the DeathWing.

"What are you doing here?" he snarled. "I'm not coming back to Cactus's castle. I said that long ago, so tell him no." The SandWing's tail pricked, its barb gleaming in the midday sunlight.

“Wha-- no!” Shadow stammered. “I’m not a DeathWing.” She immediately clamped her mouth shut. What had she just said? She’d almost said it instinctively. Just to defend myself from this SandWing, I guess, she told herself.

“Not a DeathWing? Ha! Go back where you came from, little runt! What’ll Cactus ask you DeathWings to do next, make him a feast and perform a show?” the sand-colored dragon lashed his tail, stepping back angrily.

Shadow cleared her throat. She’d clear everything up for this stranger, if he was stupid enough to not understand. “Um, you don’t get it, SandWing. So…” she grasped for the right way to explain herself. “You know how you’re a SandWing, and you should be with them and the DeathWings?”

“Yes,” the dragon grumbled. “Don’t remind me.”

“Well, I’ve kind of always hated them, probably the same with you, do you get it now? I hate Cactus! And all Mother wants me to do is fight. And my brother Torment found out I was an animus and that would STINK if I had to use my magic for horrible dragons.”

The SandWing gasped, his tail straight up and his eyes wide. “There’s never been a DeathWing animus!”

“I know, but I am. Anyway, a while ago, Cactus ATTACKED me! With his tail, and I woke up and I was in this… igloo, that was what Flurry called it, and--” Shadow stopped when she saw the strange SandWing prick his ears.

“Flurry?” he gasped. “You saw Flurry? When?”

“Uh, I forget how long it’s been! Almost half a month ago, it feels like.” Shadow answered, shifting her weight uncomfortably. “Why do you want to know, exactly?”

“I-- I love her.” the muscular SandWing murmured, dipping his head. “My name is Char.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Shadow’s claws dug into the sand under her feet. This SandWing, she knew who he was now. Char, the SandWing she’d read of in her scrolls. The one Flurry had talked to some time ago.

“Char,” she said thoughtfully. “I read about you.”

“Wow, go figure. Probably about how I was a TERRIBLE and NASTY dragon,” the bulky SandWing growled, his one wing lowering so that it touched the ground.

Shadow grinned. “Yeah… but you don’t seem too bad.”

“Try telling that to my uncle.” he said, causing the DeathWing to tip her head in confusion. “Cactus.” Char added quickly, lowering his gaze. “He was the one who exiled me. My own uncle… He never really seemed to favor me, anyway, but I never thought he’d go as far as to EXILE me!”

Shadow bent down and licked her wounded shoulder. It didn’t hurt anymore because of her enchantment, but it still looked gross on the outside. “Wow,” she said to Char once she lifted her head. “That’s harsh. I’ve learned firsthand too, that he’ll go really far to get what he wants.”

Char nodded. “He sent me and a troop of DeathWings, a long time ago, to invade the NightWings. One of them, a really big NightWing, tore off almost all my wing. It was terrible and it took many months to stop the infection. The SandWing healers ended up cutting off all of my wing,” he snarled, wiggling his remaining wingbud. “It’s all Cactus’s fault, if you ask me. He was the one who forced me to lead that invasion.”

“Well, it’s nice to formally meet you,” said Shadow, quickly changing the subject. She dipped her head. “I’m Shadow.”

“You know what happens to animus dragons,” he whispered, as if not even hearing her. “They--”

“They what?” she burst in. What was going to happen to her? Would SHE grow squid tentacles too? Oh no, that couldn’t happen!

“They go CRAZY,” murmured Char, his head lowered. He buried his claws into the sand, the grains flowing over his talons. Shadow lifted her tail, her eyes widening in disbelief.

“No, Char, that isn’t true!” Shadow wailed, touching her forehead in horror. “Am… AM I CRAZY?” She flapped her wings nervously, spraying sand in dust clouds around her.

“Quit it, Shadow. You’re not crazy. Not yet, at least…”

“Not yet? How do I NOT become crazy?” Shadow shuffled her talons, pouting.

“Never use your animus magic. Ever again.” Char answered. “I know this because I almost went crazy. And it’s worse than any missing wing, or poisoned arm, or any pain you can imagine. You’ll become like Scorch was.”

The DeathWing’s eyes widened into orbs of blood. “W-what do you mean… when you said YOU almost went crazy?”

“I was an animus.” the SandWing growled. “Before I vowed never to use my magic again.” He glanced at a small ring on his fifth talon, lifting his right arm so Shadow could see. “This was my first enchantment. A Memory-Seeker.”

Char glanced at the ruby encrusted in the ring, then whispered in a low voice. Shadow caught the words “fate” and “torn from my grasp” as the SandWing closed his eyes.

The sand of the tall dunes seemed to shift, and Char and Shadow were suddenly thrust into a sandstorm of dust and wind. The air gave a deafening roar and grains of sand stung as they blew into her eyes. She grunted, squinting her eyes shut while trying to keep her feet on the ground. She could barely see Char in the desert storm, but he was probably doing the same as her.

Shadow barely even had time to wonder what Char had done. With a jolt of shock, her feet were dragged from the surface and she was tossed away, wind clawing at her face as it rushed by. Howls grew louder and louder in her ears. Shadow could narely hear her own screech as the breeze carried it away.

Suddenly, the wind stopped. Completely… stopped.

She opened her eyes quickly, looking down to make sure she was on solid ground. She definitely was on ground, but it wasn’t the sand that had been there a second ago. It was cracked, weathered stone, eroded by years and years of existence. Shadow glanced around, looking for any signs of life. Anything that could give her a clue of where she was.

Behind her, she saw a large, burly SandWing, a smaller one at its side. In front of them was a group of DeathWings, swishing their tails and talking amongst themselves.

“Quiet!” hissed the large SandWing, dipping his head to the smaller one. “Char, tell them about our task.”

Shadow’s eyes widened. Char? But-- Char was with her… and this didn’t look like Char. The small dragon looked well-fed, and he had two wings intact.

The tiny SandWing cleared his throat, standing tall with his tail barb raised. “Okay, DeathWings. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Mamba and I will lead the way, but I will be the one who starts the invasion. You better do this right, because you wouldn’t want to ruin my first day as Secondary Army General, would you?”

The gray and red dragons facing him shook their heads. Some looked a bit nervous, while others looked eager for this opportunity to attack.

“Good. Now, the reason Cactus assigned us to invade the NightWings is because it’s an important task. You see, if we weaken the nearby defense, not only will we have defeated a major enemy, but we’ll also have given ourselves a clear path to defeat the BIGGEST enemy. The IceWings.” The general, who seemed to be Char,  narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, Shadow felt a tap on her shoulder. She whipped around to see a SandWing. THIS was really Char, with his missing wing, and his thin, muscular figure. But the small dragon behind her was also Char somehow.

“Wh-what is this? Why do you and that army general have the same name…?” Shadow asked, squinting in the midday sun. It was lowering across the jutting peaks, which were nothing more than a dark shadow in the distance.

“No,” said the real Char, “that’s me, or-- it was me, at least. Before I left Cactus and lost my wing. I left my honor with me.” He lifted up his arm, showing the tiny ring on his fifth talon. “I enchanted this long before now, as you can tell,” he murmured, dipping his head toward the younger Char, who wore the same ring.

“The Char From the Past is a nice nickname for this dude, you think so?” asked Shadow, grinning.

“Watch your mouth, because ‘this dude’ is about to eat you for dinner!” growled The Char From the Present with a gleam in his eyes.

Shadow stepped back. “Y-y-you would really do that?” She glanced at his tail barb, which was tucked in, but accessible for him at any moment.

“No.” Char smirked. “But don’t make me change my mind.” He glanced back at the gathered dragons, who were flying off the stony peak of the mountain. “Let’s follow me… well, the old me,” said Char, attempting to fly along with his past self, before flopping down dejectedly. His missing wing prevented him from taking flight.

“Hey, it’s alright! Because I have an idea!” Shadow piped up.

“No, I know what you’re thinking, Shadow. You are NOT using your magic.” Char hissed, lowering his one wing.

“Actually, I was thinking you’d just go on my back.” she said, shifting her weight and lowering her legs into a crouch. She pressed herself down so that the SandWing could get on.

Char tipped his head. “You really think you could carry me?”

“Um,” she muttered. “I can definitely try!” Shadow flicked her ears, beckoning for the impaired SandWing to clamber on her back.

“Try all you want, then.” he climbed up onto her back, and Shadow pulled open her wings and took flight, with Char clinging onto her shoulders, his one remaining wing spread wide, trembling in the strong breeze.

She tried to keep her back from lowering too much; the SandWing was extremely heavy despite his size. With a grunt, she slowed down to catch her breath. This was a much better pace.

“This is a much worse pace!” complained Char, digging his claws into her back. Shadow stifled a loud groan, which instead came out as a snort.

“You aren’t a dragonet in need of a piggyback ride,” she retorted. “I go at the speed that’s good for me. You should be thanking me, really…” Panting, she continued to fly away from the mountains, with no exact location in mind. She was just trying to follow the invasion army. But she’d never been to the Night Kingdom, although she had seen it on a map. It was below the Sand Kingdom, a small peninsula jutting out of Pyrrhia. Mother had told her it was creepy. She’d said that it had lava, and volcanoes, and sharp rocks. A few DeathWings had died there, Shadow remembered with a shudder.

“We won’t keep up with them at this rate,” Char complained, while pointing to the invaders, which were becoming smaller and smaller figures in the distance.

“Are we able to die like this?” Shadow asked, tensing up as she gradually picked up speed.

“In my past?” Char yelled over the howling wind. “No, we’re technically just spectators now.” This caused her to let out a sigh of relief.

“Good, because I surely would have died in the Night Kingdom,” she said.

“Actually, probably not. You seem really strong, and brave.” Warmth flooded through her body as Char added, “But, not very smart.”

“I am VERY smart, you ignorant load of camel spit!” Shadow snarled, which turned into laughing after a moment. “Disgusting piece of vulture dung…” She quickly tilted herself, sliding Char to the side of her back. Smirking, she balanced herself back, looking behind her to see the SandWing panting. A faint smile was plastered on his face, making Shadow burst out laughing.

“What?” he hissed. He spoke as if he was mad, but she could see laughter in his dark gray-green eyes. He lifted his tail slowly.

Shadow wasn’t scared of his tail barb anymore. She knew he was just using it as a joke. Char would never hurt anyone with it, unlike Cactus. She glanced at her wound from Cactus’s barb, a nasty puncture mark crusted with dried blood. She probably would’ve lost her leg if she hadn’t enchanted it to heal. That was why Char was wrong. She NEEDED to use her magic.

Lowering his tail, Char let out an exaggerated sigh. “Come on, let’s keep following my patrol.”

The two dragons flew for what felt like hours, until the sun was merely a sliver from below the blazing horizon. They had gained on the group of dragons, and once the sky darkened, the army patrol settled on a flat mountain peak to rest for the night. Shadow paused in midair, hesitant to go closer. What if the dragons tried to kill her? She couldn’t die here, but…

“Come on, Shadow,” Char said, tilting his head to the mountain. “They can’t see us, I told you we’re just spectating!” He tapped impatiently on Shadow’s scaly back, yawning.

“Oh. Yeah, right,” she muttered. Tucking in her wings, she lowered, settling gently on the flat stone.

“Careful!” hissed the SandWing as he nearly slid off her back. Shadow growled an apology, scraping her claws against the mountain surface.

Only a thin golden strip of light showed beyond the towering cliffs, like a line of fire being extinguished by the shadowy veil of night. Thin clouds drifted slowly, covering the stars and moons. Two of the milky orbs were half-moons, while the third one was nothing more than a white sliver across the sky like a claw mark. Shadow glanced ahead, seeing the outlines of the patrol as they rested, yawning and lying down uncomfortably on the cold stone.

Lowering down gently so that Char could climb off, Shadow narrowed her eyes. “At least tell me that we can SLEEP here.”

“Nope. No sleeping,” the SandWing said, getting off her back and smirking.

“WHAT??” Shadow screeched. “What will we do all--”

“I’m kidding! Of course you can sleep here, it’s something we all can do naturally.”

“Very funny, Char,” she said, tilting herself so that Char tumbled off her back and landed on the stone with a heavy thump. Shadow ignored his growl of indignance and let out a massive yawn. Her body hurt all over… mostly her legs. Or was it her back? It felt numb with pain, from carrying the heavy SandWing all the way here. Stupid missing wing, she fumed. ''If he’s an animus too, then he could just fix it! Or I could do it for him, if he REFUSES to use his magic.''

She buried her head between the gap in her elbows and closed her eyes. She’d talk to Char in the morning.

Shadow was dreaming. At least, she thought she was.

She was standing in a throne room, decorated with desert-themed tapestries and SandWing statues encrusted with gems. This must be Cactus’s palace. she thought with a groan. Looking around, she saw a massive golden throne in the center of the large room. On the ground was what seemed to be a rug made of bobcat fur, and in a nearby display case, an owl was trapped inside. But it had been killed… and stuffed.

How could Cactus be so CRUEL? What did the bobcat and the owl ever do to him? Although… her mother and the other DeathWings would probably be perfectly fine with killing harmless creatures. But was something wrong with them, or was it her that was wrong?

“Cactus, um, do you mind… reporting to the war pavilion?” Shadow flipped around to see a pale brown SandWing marked with black specks down his neck and legs. He wore a leather leg band on his back ankle, signifying that he was one of Cactus’s high-ranked soldiers. His black eyes were fixed on something behind Shadow. Turning slowly, she saw none other than Cactus, hunched in a corner with his head in his talons.

Once he heard the soldier’s words, he quickly looked up, glaring. “I don’t take orders from my soldiers.” He stood up, growling, with his head bent down.

The light-colored SandWing looked down at his leather band, lifting up his hind leg to get a good look. “Well-- you see, Master Cactus, it’s of utmost importance. Several other soldiers are requesting your presence as well.”

“Requesting?” Cactus echoed, narrowing his eyes.

Shifting his feet, the soldier nodded. “We need to talk about the DeathWings.”

“Fine,” snarled Cactus, draping a golden chain over his head. “But you know better than to defy me, or my rules.” He tucked in his tail, so that the venomous barb was hardly showing. He’s right to be embarrassed. Shadow realized, with a hint of satisfaction. He shouldn’t use that dumb killer tail so much.

“Yes, Master.” The SandWing soldier slowly led Cactus out of his throne room. It was nice to see the master of all DeathWings, being led somewhere by one of his own soldiers. She didn’t think Cactus would’ve put up with that on a normal day. But this wasn’t normal, not when a life had been lost (although everyone probably assumed she was dead too). But would anyone lose respect for the leader they had fought beside for so long? Or would they still risk their lives for him?

Shadow quietly slithered behind them, careful not to make a sound. She had always been terrible at being quiet in her stealth training lessons.

Suddenly, when she was crawling out the doorway of the throne room, she heard a crrrreeeaaaaakkkk sound, like an alarm saying, “you blew it again, Shadow.”

Cactus and his soldier turned around immediately. “Who goes there?” snarled Cactus, crouching down and baring his fangs. Shadow’s heart pumped inside her chest, and she was genuinely shocked that the SandWings couldn't hear it. Risking a look down at her talons, she saw the wooden board she’d stepped on was loose. Out of ALL the floorboards she could have stepped on, it HAD to be the one that made the loud creak to show your presence to the dragon who tried to kill you. Just perfect luck.

Glancing back up at the dragons, Shadow tensed. The soldier who accompanied Cactus was staring at her, making direct eye contact. Her ears flattened, and she sighed to herself. She’d been caught.

But the SandWing only looked at her a split second before frantically scanning the rest of the room. As if he hadn’t seen her…

“Nobody’s here, Master Cactus. I probably just stepped on a loose floorboard or something.” The rust-colored dragon nodded curtly to his leader, beckoning them to leave.

“Once you’re back to your job, tell Wither to fix my floor so that it doesn’t make such an annoying sound,” said Cactus.

Shadow’s eyes widened as she breathed a deep sigh of relief. They couldn’t see her! So, this must be a dream. But-- maybe it was a VISION! Maybe something like that was really happening, right now, in Cactus’s palace!

The soldier nodded immediately, but… what was that in his eyes? It looked like a hint of fear, or exasperation. But that couldn’t be what it was, since no SandWing had feelings. They were all soulless monsters, except maybe Char. Although it was a possibility that they’re all scared of Cactus now, after the terrible things he did. ''He deserves to be disliked. He deserves to be squashed in the snout with his own dumb tail!'' She grinned, slowly following the two dragons as they went to a large, dome-shaped room at the center of the castle.

    “Thank you, Leopard,” Cactus grunted, looking down at the wood floor scornfully.

    “Actually, it’s Jackal, sir,” the soldier answered, swishing his tail nervously.

    “Leopard, Jackal, what’s the difference?” growled the large SandWing as he strutted to a round table, his necklace jingling on his neck as he walked.

Jackal sat down on a tall velvet chair next to Cactus’s even TALLER velvet chair. Once all the SandWing soldiers had settled down, a pale yellow SandWing facing Cactus locked eyes with his master.

“Cactus… we have some things to discuss.” The dragon pressed his wings against his body and sighed. Kind of like how Mother sighed when Shadow did something stupid.

“I know what this is about, Jackal,” snarled Cactus. “I don’t want to--”

“Um, it’s Caracal, sir. That’s Jackal… over there.” She pointed across the table to the dragon who had escorted Cactus.

Shadow could tell the master was fuming, by the way he seethed in his miniature throne, and how his shoulders tensed angrily. He wasn’t used to being bossed around by his own soldiers. The thought of that satisfied her.

“I still know what this is, Caracal. You’re going to mention the dead DeathWings, which I’ve been avoiding, and you will regret ever speaking to me about such a neglected topic.” Cactus said, searing his gaze into the soldier’s.

“No, Master,” another SandWing piped up. “I mean, kind of, but… we feel like you’re going a bit too hard on the DeathWings, do you see what we mean?” The other dragons in the room nodded their heads, except Cactus, who sat in a stunned silence. Jerking up his head, he glanced at the dragon who’d spoken wearily.

“Well then, answer this question for me,” hissed Cactus, “who will be the one to do my work?”

A moment of tense silence followed his question, but suddenly, a soldier spoke up. “You, Cactus. You fix your own problems, clean up your own messes.”

An uproar of agreement nearly deafened Shadow, but she was glad to hear that the soldiers agreed with what she was thinking. Without his soldiers, he was hopeless. And he knew it.

“I’m SORRY, okay? Just keep working for me. How else will you succeed in life, without my commands, or the payment you need?”

The SandWings considered, and Caracal muttered, “I guess you’re right, Master. You always are.”

Jackal piped up. “I’ll remain loyal to you, Master Cactus.”

The dragons sitting around the table slowly nodded their heads in unison, but some looked torn, as if they were just following the others’ decisions. Maybe it was hard for the soldiers, harder than Shadow had thought. Their whole life was a mess, wasted on revenge they (hopefully) will never receive. Shouldn’t they all feel some resentment? Some annoyance at Cactus for forcing their lives to be a certain way?

Growling under her breath, Shadow wondered why they were staying loyal to him. They clearly knew what he did; who would listen to him after he became a killer?

Probably some threats, she realized. Like, “I’ll take away all your valuables unless you work for me and never stop respecting me!” Stupid Cactus. That was totally something he would do, but the soldiers NEEDED to figure that out.

Clenching her talons into fists, she wriggled with an annoying sense of helplessness. She’d felt this way before, like when Torment taunted her and there was nothing she could do about it since Mother was standing right behind them. Except this was worse, because now, a killer was on the rampage. Well, not exactly “rampage”, but with him around, more dragons could die!

Her claws slid out instinctively. She had to tell the soldiers somehow. But what would she say? She didn’t know where to start, since it would be pretty hard to convince them that their master was evil.

Taking a deep inhale, she walked closer to pale brown soldier, Jackal, hoping she could deliver an amazing speech that caused him to say, “Ohh, okay, let’s abandon this dumb dragon, like we should have done long ago!”

Shadow cleared her throat, her legs feeling like thick vines. Jackal was listening to Cactus talk, and he didn’t even seem to hear Shadow. She tried again, clearing her throat a bit louder this time. He didn’t even seem to know anyone was behind him, desperately trying to get his attention without yelling across the whole room.

''Maybe he’s deaf? Or maybe he just has really bad hearing.'' She sighed and walked over to his chair, until she could feel the heat radiating off of his scales. She was terrified, but she didn’t dare show it as she lifted her arm and pulled one talon towards his shoulder. She tapped it, hoping he would notice.

But it didn’t make contact with his scales. Instead, it swept through them as if he was a ghost.

And then she remembered. She was dreaming, she obviously couldn’t touch him or get anyone’s attention! That was why they hadn’t noticed her earlier. So she had to find a DIFFERENT way to warn the SandWings of Cactus’ tyranny. That would be so fun.

Just go there yourself, bonehead, scolded an impatient voice in her head.

And possibly get murdered by Cactus for real this time? she retorted, narrowing her eyes. It was hopeless, a dragonet like her warning a whole army, which would probably not even be successful, because who would listen to her? She was just a useless dragonet who’s cranky and stubborn and weird.

''What are you thinking, Shadow? Use your animus magic!'' The voice in her head was buzzing like a fly. Shadow wished it was a fly, then she could squash it easily, into a pile of disgusting mush.

Pressing her talons against her forehead, she answered, ''Come on, Char seriously said I would go crazy if I kept using it. Neither of us would want that, would we?''

    The annoying thoughts continued, as if it wanted to prove her wrong constantly. One enchantment won’t hurt, will it?

Considering for a moment, she raised her head. “I’d rather just go to his palace than use my magic.” She shut her mouth, realizing she’d said that out loud. But she meant what she’d said, there weren’t any other ideas, and this one was far better than going insane. She pricked her ears, remembering that Cactus was still droning on about stuff, and she wanted to hear it.

“—still, assign Sahara and Harmattan to guard the castle. We don’t want any uninvited guests,” he was saying. “Please get those guards now.” Cactus nodded to a pale-colored dragon at the table, who bowed and quickly scurried out of the room. Another nearby soldier, who Shadow recognized as Caracal, sat up straighter, addressing everyone’s attention.

“And Cactus, we have something for you,” the soldier said, her expression unreadable.

The master’s black eyes lit up, as if he was containing his excitement. “Well, what are you waiting for, Jackal? Bring it to me!”

Shadow heard her mutter, “It’s Caracal, sir,” before she turned around and opened a closet with golden handles. When she came to Cactus, she was holding a strange-shaped cloth, which had a metal extension at the bottom that closed and opened the pouch when it was pulled.

“Created by the kingdom’s finest workers, made with the thickest cloth on the markets,” Caracal said, a hint of fear in her voice, but some excitement as well.

Upon seeing the weird tiny sack, Cactus frowned slightly. “And… um, what is it, exactly?”

“It’s a tail barb cover, Master. So that you don’t kill dragons.” The soldier said.

Snarling, the dragon shook his head, his necklaces clanking. The other dragons around him looked nervous, as if he would murder them all in one second. One soldier began to back away, but Cactus hissed at him, and he rushed back to the table.

“Please, it’s for your own good. At least just try it on?” another dragon asked hesitantly.

Smoke billowed from Cactus’s large nostrils as they flared angrily. “How is it for my own good if I have no defense?” he challenged, ears twitching. The SandWing soldiers looked around, waiting for someone to respond. When nobody else did, Jackal looked at Cactus.

“We will protect you, Master. Won’t we?” He turned his head to gaze at the other soldiers, urgency in his beady black eyes. They all slowly nodded, agreeing in unison, but Shadow noticed a hint of reluctance in the way they shared glances at each other with uncertainty.

Without waiting for Cactus to decline, Jackal rushed up, clutching the small pouch, and slid it over the master’s tail barb. His talons shook with fear as he pulled away and returned to his chair with wide eyes. Shadow could sense fierce anger, but all the soldiers seemed worried about what furious things he would say to them. They could already see their master narrowing his eyes and opening his mouth to scold them.

“TRUST ME, I AM…” Cactus stopped himself, clenching his jaw. “I am lucky to have soldiers who care for me so much.”

He was clearly just hiding his anger, but the SandWing soldiers sighed with relief. A few of them began bowing down to him, thanking him profusely. A pale yellow SandWing tilted his head towards the doorway, and the soldiers nodded, streaming out of the room in an orderly line.

Cactus was left alone in the war pavillion. He glanced around, his eyes widening to the size of giant black beetles. Shadow could barely focus on him through her weariness, but her head lifted up when she saw the SandWing’s gaze locking on her own. But he couldn’t see her… could he?

“I need to know what’s worth killing. I feel the presence of my victims looming over me.” With a deep, heavy sigh, he began to walk to Shadow, never leaving her gaze, until his warm, foul-smelling breath nearly burned her snout.

She wanted to run. Or, maybe even ask him, “What are you doing?” or just claw him in the face right that second. But her legs felt alarmingly stiff, like cracked stone. She didn’t want to move a muscle.

Cactus tore his necklace off his neck, stepped through Shadow’s ghostly body, and placed the jewelry on his dresser. Shadow took in a sharp inhale and stared at the dragon’s outstretched talons as he grabbed a wooden statue of a dragon, bearing a spear-like tail and massive spikes. It was a statue of a DeathWing.

“Should I even be asking you for advice?” whispered Cactus, barely louder than a whisper. “What have you done that was ever good, Scorch? Look what you got me into!” Flicking his tail, the SandWing master slammed the wooden dragon against the dresser, stalking out of the room.

Shadow let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. He hadn’t seen her, he’d been staring at the statue, right behind her. She wondered what the statue did or if Cactus was just a talented sculptor? But it looked super old, a thousand years ancient, at the least. Maybe Scorch had made it?

The edges of her consciousness (or was it unconsciousness?) seemed to blur together, as swirls and flickering dots scattered throughout her brain. Was that SandWing meeting all a dream… or did it actually hap…

Suddenly, the world began to flash in a whirlwind of darkness and confusion. The stone crumbled. The dark walls caved in. Icy talons gripped her, sending a numb feeling through her body, and she was thrust back into reality.

CHAPTER SIX

ack into realit