Power-A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter Five

They were flying because Orca did not want to teleport them into who knew where. Orca figured that Starcrafter and Dolphin's captor was luring them into a trap, and if they teleported to Orca's brothers' location, they would die or something. Orca had tried using her magic to determine her brothers' location. She had not succeeded.

The moons shone on them. Orca had duplicated her "no sleeping" bracelet and had given it to Blizzard. They were like the friendship bracelets female dragonets sometimes made for each other.

"So...where do you figure your brothers are?" Blizzard asked, flying closer to Orca. "I'm not sure," Orca said with a small sigh, "But I think I know some of the dragons who are connected to their capture." "Who?" Blizzard asked curiously. "Mahogany and Lemon," Orca snarled, flicking clouds away with her wings. "Those toxic RainWings who hate me." 

"Oh!" Blizzard said. She halted in the sky for a moment. "I once heard Lemon yelling at Mahogany outside. They were talking about SandWings and torture and imprisonment. Maybe they got a SandWing animus to capture your brothers for them." Orca raised her brows. "Wow," she said. "You are smart." Blizzard snorted. "Enough flattery," she said. "So...I guess we fly to the Kingdom of Sand?" "It's a big kingdom," Orca pointed out, "With lots and lots of deserts. We will get lost or thirsty and fall out of the sky and meet our doom." Blizzard laughed. "That's EXACTLY why you have magic!" she said, gently bumping Orca's side with her own. "You can magic us some water flasks or some food! And if we get REALLY hopeless, we can just fly to the Ice Kingdom and Mother will help us! I think. Oh, Father will DEFINITELY help us! Since your brothers are half SeaWing! No?"

Orca looked down at the squiggly, folded land below them. "Your parents are not going to risk their lives for strangers from another tribe," she said. "If I were the queen, I would risk EVERYTHING for your brothers," Blizzard said. Orca looked into Blizzard's mind and found that this was true. Blizzard genuinely cared for her and genuinely wanted to help. "Thank you for...uh...being so determined to help, I guess. For being so LOYAL!" Blizzard did a flip in the sky. "Anything for you, clawmate," she said.

In a hidden palace in the Kingdom of Sand...

Dolphin woke up. His mouth was clamped shut, and he had clamps on his wings. his ankles were chained to the wall behind him. He only remembered sitting in the math cave, a bright flash and a bolt of pain in his head. Then he remembered darkness. So. The spell knocked me unconscious. 

He decided to find a magical solution. His soul was safe: the ring on his left horn made sure of that. I enchant all the clamps on my body to turn to dust. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. The clams sat there, cold and hard against his scales, ostentatiously not turning into dust. Fear shot through his body. WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY MAGIC?????  The tingling in his claws wasn't gone, his magic was still there. It was just...not working. 

He tried to steady his breathing. The air smelled of metal, although that probably had something to do with the metal clamp on his snout. He looked around the room. Everything was black and dark purple. He felt a lock dangling from a chain on his snout clamp. I need a key. What if just the clamps are enchanted to be unenchantable by other animus dragons? He looked at the floor. It was made out of marble tiles. He put his talon to the one nearest to him and enchanted it: I enchant this tile so that it will turn into a key that will unlock all my clamps by itself without my assistance. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. The clamps still pressed into his scales. 

Suddenly, he was blinded by a flash of white light. He felt his snout clamp and ankle clamps disappear. He had been teleported into another room, this one bright orange. A black throne stood near the far wall. A bejeweled SandWing with his ridge dyed in spots was perched on it. He drummed his claws on the armrest of the throne. Dolphin wildly looked around. There was Starcrafter! His brother did not look like himself. He looked furious and dangerous.

"Ah, you have woken up, little hybrid dragons," the SandWing said smoothly, stretching his wings as far as they could stretch without his having to stand up. "Good morning." Starcrafter let out a roar that did not sound like Starcrafter at all. He tried to lunge at the SandWing, but he was trapped in place, unable to move.

The SandWing chuckled. "Oh, you would think that I would let two adorable prisoners whom I have paid so handsomely for wander around my palace unguarded? Nope! I know perfectly well those RainWings won't give the gems back. Where are the days before Queen Glory, when RainWings were lazy and vegetarian and pacifistic? That is the reason I have locked you in place with my magic, my friends. It's for your own good." 

"Let us go!" Starcrafter yelled. "Ha!" the SandWing snorted. He climbed off of his throne and began walking around the room. Dolphin wished his talons were free so he could claw out his eyeballs. "Let's introduce ourselves, shall we? My name is Brightsting. I am a descendant of Jerboa, and I have been paid to torture and imprison you."

Dolphin felt cold. Some RainWings paid a SandWing to torture and imprison us? But we don't know any RainWings. Who would do this? "I am Dolphin," Dolphin said. He tried not to yell like his brother. He couldn't read Brightsting's mind. He did not know what the SandWing's goals were. He looked into the future. The ones where he acted furious and dangerous like Starcrafter resulted in worse torture. The ones where he quietly bore the pain resulted in looser torture. He sent his brother a telepathic message informing him of that. Starcrafter settled back and stopped glaring at Brightsting.

"Pleasure to meet you, Dolphin," Brightsting said with a toothy smile. "And you, my good sir? What is your name?" Starcrafter did not look up but mumbled: "Starcrafter." Brightsting clapped his talons together. "Splendid!" he trilled. "You may be asking: hey, idiot SandWing, why are you asking for our names if you're going to torture and imprison us? Well, the torture part is to come. You are already imprisoned. Anyway, I'm asking for your names so you do not think that I am just a complete barbarian. I am making an effort to be POLITE."

"Hey, idiot SandWing," Starcrafter said. "Why can't we read your mind and why is our magic not working?" Brightsting laughed. "I LOVE IT when my prisoners call me 'idiot SandWing'," he said. "It's so blasted FUNNY! Anyway. You cannot read my mind because I defended myself against mind readers with my ANIMUS MAGIC! You cannot use your magic because this is called the "no magic" palace! I built it with my magic and enchanted it so that no one but me can use magic in here. It is filled with torture rooms. No graveyards, though. Like I hinted earlier, I am not a complete barbarian. I don't kill dragons! I just torture them a bit and imprison them a bit in exchange for treasure."

Starcrafter hissed and lashed his tail. That was the most he could do. "Okay, enough politeness," Brightsting said with alarming cheerfulness. "Time for the torture!"