Dragons Rising: My Mistake Changed My Kingdom {Book One}

Chapter Twenty: Enchantments

    Orca always knew the day would come when she challenged her mother. But as she became older, she grew more and more impatient, wanting to challenge her mother but knowing she wasn't ready.
    So this was when the enchantments came.
    Not to help her win, of course not! That would be cheating! But when Orca felt stressed or impatient or angry . . . animus magic was always a way to cure that.
    So one day when she was particularly impatient, she swam to her little island and enchanted the whole thing.
    "Enchant this island so that if I die when I challenge mother, this island will disappear and remove all trace of me or Humpback being here."
    The island glowed, and Orca felt guilty. If I do die, Humpback will feel so lost . . . this island was the last memory.
    Maybe I shouldn't have enchanted this. Or . . .
    "I also enchant this island so that even though it will disappear, it will appear to those I was close to: Humpback and my dolphin Fox."
    The island glowed again and she sighed. It was so weird to be thinking that she was going to die. So weird that Orca almost felt like crying.
    I am going to cry, The SeaWing realized as she felt her eyes. She ran to the center of the island, marked by the line of fallen - and enchanted - coconuts.
    She picked the first one up, then the third. She then picked up the last and the sixth (there was a total of fifteen coconuts.)
    Actually, only four coconuts were enchanted: The first, the third, and the sixth. As long as you put a coconut in the places where the enchanted ones should be, it didn't matter if you put the sixth in the first spot and the first in the last spot.
    Behind the line of coconuts opened up like a trapdoor, and Orca placed the coconuts back down. There was a slight ticking: A warning that the entrance would close in five seconds. Orca dived into the opening as the door closed, and quickly she spread out her wings so she wouldn't hit the ground and break something.
     Quickly, she walked along a series of hallways made of quartz, finally stopping in a green room. My room. Sniffing, she let the tears come. Why did she have to be the only heir? Why couldn't she have an older sister who wanted the throne? Maybe she didn't want mother to die. But then again . . .
    All that power . . . and she could lead her tribe to safety. Orca could end the war faster. She could make my tribe the best tribe that Pyrrhia has ever seen . . . maybe without my animus magic, even. My tribe will be the best tribe if I'm in power . . . and mother isn't.
    "Don't do it." Said a familiar voice behind her. "You'll die. You're too young, Orca."
    She turned around to find her gray and green brother. "I know." She replied. "Not yet."
    "I know what you're thinking. I'm not sure a five year old dragonet can lead her tribe to safety, even if she won the battle. The battle for the throne is one thing, that's fighting. But actually ruling a kingdom . . . it's stressful. Don't do it yet."
    "I won't." Orca said. "I promise."
    The rest of the day really just consisted of her calming herself down with spells before the two of them decided to leave the small room and fly back to the surface. The trapdoor was made of one-way glass, so they checked to make sure no one was outside before they lifted it up with a lever and flew back home.
    But Orca's mind was racing with questions. Questions that couldn't be answered until they could. Such as: Why does a five year old dragonet want to challenge her mother?
    This much she knew: Orca somehow got it into her head that she would have to challenge her mother, and now that it was in her head, she couldn't get it out. And she was becoming more and more impatient with each and every step . . . why must life do things like this?
    Orca knew one more thing, however. And that was that whether she liked it or not, she wanted to challenge her mother for the throne. And she was going to do it.