Wings of Honor: Saving Grace

Chapter 3: React To Contact

The silver head that was Glory's burned in my mind. It was there every time I blinked. I shook my head, but it was still there.
I flew. I pursued.
She killed a Queen. She was supposed to be my Queen. Marvin's friend. My friend. A good Queen. A good dragon. And now she's dead.
Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.
My scales morphed into several different colors. Rings of greens faded to a ghostly white, before condensing into dark red and black.
I grit my teeth so hard, I tasted blood.
I didn't think. I couldn't think. I only had one mission. And by God I was going to complete it.
Kill Queen Scarlet.
Kill Queen Scarlet.
Kill Queen Scarlet.
The red speck was far ahead. She was fast, but I was going to catch her.
My wingtips kept folding, I flew so hard and so fast.
Everything stung. Everything hurt. My lungs suckled for air. My wings tried to keep a beat, but I forced them as fast as I could. My body kept trying to twist to the left.
My teeth bared, fire gathering in my chest.
No. I wouldn't use fire. I would tear her apart with my bare hands, like she did to Glory.
There was no mercy anymore. She killed my friend. I would kill her.
By God, I would kill her.
"Just let me catch up to her!" ENCHANT ME TO CATCH UP WITH SCARLET!
I suddenly shot forward, a newfound wind filled my wings.
I reached out to try and grab the burning red SkyWing, only to have my view filled with purple.
I shot through the remains of the pink mist. Flaring up high into the sky. I looked back.

Scarlet was gone.
She escaped.

I circled back, landing amidst the crowd of dragons gathered.
The fire raged in me. I was still a red-black. I stamped at the ground, hurling aside rocks.
I had cursed my entire way back, but even now I clenched my jaw so hard it ached. Maybe if I break a tooth, that would release some of this stress.
I swept over to where the dragons were. From the tone of their voice, there was an argument.
"...ese are my friends," Peril said, lifting her chin. "You can't make me stay away from my friends."
"Monsters don't have friends," hissed Ruby.
"How could she have killed Glory?" Sunny cried. "Glory's amazing and indestructible and has magical death spit plus Deathbringer and a whole army of RainWings who would die for her! Clay, please, please tell me that's not her."
I looked over where Clay was starting for Glory's head.
"Maybe it's a trick," Clay said.
But nobody here was convinced. If this was a trick, it was a damn good one.
Oh man, I really hope it is a trick. What will Marvin think if I told him Queen Glory is dead? What will happen to the future? Will Marvin never get rescued by her? Will that mean he gets killed when he gets chased into the rainforest?
What will happen to me? If Marvin doesn't get out okay, and never gets an ally with the Rainwings, what will happen to me? I would be under Goldman. I would be evil. I would help him hurt others. Other dragons.
I crumpled down, hands gripping my head.
"No." I whimpered.
"It looks like Queen Glory to me," Ruby said. "I'm sorry for you both."
Sunny broke down as well, covering her face with her talons and curling into a little golden ball, with her wings over her head. Clay closed his eyes and hung his head.
"Can I see?"
I sucked air when I heard his voice. The familiar seafoam green dragon hovered across from me and the group. He touched down and carefully took the head from Ruby, turning it and analyzing it attentively.
"Who are you?" Ruby asked. "Did you know Queen Glory?"
"No, I never met her," he responded. "I'm one of the sons of Queen Coral, and a student here. But I feel like ... I don't know, just ... there's something strange about this."
I held my breath.
There was something strange about that. This... it's hard to explain, but strangely familiar.
"It is weird," Peril agreed. "Glory was probably the best-guarded dragon in Pyrrhia. How did Scarlet get to her? Why go for her first? Killing Ruby first would make much more sense; then she could have taken the whole SkyWing army to attack the rainforest."
"That's Queen Ruby to you," the red dragon snarled. "And I'm not that easy to kill either. No matter who you are or what your claws can do."
Peril glared back at her. I took a step back myself.
Turtle squinted like he notice something. He held her head up toward the light. "Does she have something in her ear?" Half mumbling to himself, half to tell us. He tilted it toward Ruby, enough so that I noticed a spark of yellowy white tucked inside Glory's ear.
"A message?" Ruby guessed, taking it back from him. "More threats?"
With a careful pimch, Turtle reached into her ear and slid out a small rolled-up scrap of paper.
The he-
Then as it slid out, Glory's head began to move.
It was hard to describe. Like... her scales flipped over, in a sort of like a wave. But that feeling, the feeling I got through Ruby, I felt it before... in Possibility. The head's scales morphed from an emerald green, to more of a mud brown. The snout widened and flattened, almost like a pancake. Her fangs, like mine, folded back into her mouth and disappeared.
Ruby shrieked and dropped it onto the ground, where it bounced once before rolling to a stop near Peril's talons. It wasn't a Rainwing head no more, even less Glory's.
I let out a guilty sigh of relief.
Clay grabbed Sunny with a yelp, nearly lifting her off the ground as he turned her to look himself.
"What happened?" he cried. "What happened to Glory?"
"Who is that?" Ruby demanded.
"Not Queen Glory after all," said Turtle in relief. "This is magic - an enchantment of some kind." He held up the unrolled scrap of paper, then brought it close to his nose to read it aloud. I looked over his shoulder to read myself. "Enchant this piece of scroll so that whichever dragon wears it tucked inside his or her ear shall look exactly like Glory of the RainWings."
I shivered.
Who did this? Who would want to do this? Could it have been Goldman? What does he have against Glory? Maybe as an ally to Scarlet? WAIT. Does this mean Goldman's allied with Queen Scarlet? Oh crap. That means... she's a Skywing, and Marvin's right next to the SkyWing Kingdom - and Travers, we last spotted him near the Skywing palace. This is their territory. Oh man. Oh no.
Behind my thinking, there was a long, confused silence.
"It's not Glory," Sunny whispered, exhaling. "Clay! Glory's still alive!"
"Alive," Clay sighed. His whole face glowed with relief. "But we have to warn her that Scarlet's definitely going after her." He took a deep breath, his wings drooping down, like he realized all these burdens and responsibilities. "I wonder who this was," he said softly, nodding at the head. I joined him, peeking over at it.
"Was Scarlet trying to trick you?" Turtle asked, puzzled. "But why? I mean, you'd have figured out the truth sooner or later, once you heard from Glory."
"No," Peril said. "It wasn't about tricking them. She just wanted to scare them. That's her favorite kind of power."
Ruby let out a hiss, and Peril met her eyes.
This was a tactic. She wanted to seep our morale. That bitch! She did this on purpose to confuse and disoriente us! What else is she capable of? What danger am I facing here? What will she do next?
My thoughts were interrupted by Ruby.
"Wait," she said. Flapping her dark red wings open and closed, "An enchantment? Doesn't that mean that Scarlet must have an animus?"
You could only imagine my face. She all but confirmed my thinking.
An animus. Who has those powers? Who has that motive?
But then I realized: I'm an animus. They're looking for me.
I shifted my wings.
"No," Sunny continued, straining her neck uneasily. "No. We'd all be dead already if that were true."
I nodded slowly, thinking of when Goldman enchanted Moon, or even Marvin, or Travers, or Goldman.
Turtle pointed the piece of paper at the MudWing's head. "But ... uh ... what else is this?"
Ruby whipped around suddenly to glare at Peril. "You must know. Is there an animus dragon working for her?"
"Why would I know?" Peril shot back, off put. Argh, it would be so SATISFYING to just STOMP on this dragon's tail and watch it burst into flames. She thought. "She didn't tell me things! I was her - her weapon, not her friend. You're her daughter, why don't you know?"
"No one can stop an animus," said Clay. "Right? Except another animus." He exchanged a glance with Sunny. Then Sunny glanced at me.
What! Does she know? How would she know? Oh crap. She's Stonemover's daughter, right? He knows. Could he have told her? Am I in danger?
What was that? Do they know an animus? Why do they have secrets I don't know about? Doesn't Clay know he can tell me anything?
Peril kept yapping away, flicking her tail irritably. Which Ruby leaped away from, even though her tail hadn't been anywhere near her.
"I thought the SkyWings didn't have any animus dragons," Turtle said. "Not for hundreds of years, if ever."
I nodded along, it lined up.
"Not just SkyWings," said Ruby. "None of the tribes. Animus dragons are so rare - I don't think there's been one in Pyrrhia in centuries."
That made me freeze. That statement was wrong. The list of all known animus dragons ran through my mind.
Turtle.
Stonemover.
Jerboa.
And Stonemover.
People from the future with animus abilities:
Goldman.
Travers.
And me.
The next pause made my scales ripple, like bugs were scuttling all over me. I wanted to jump into the pond and try and wash myself off. Peril glanced from Clay to Turtle to Sunny and realized they all knew something she and Ruby didn't.
"What?" Peril demanded. "What is it?"
I knew. I knew him. He was on the list.
"Um - my father," Sunny said quickly. "Stonemover ... he's an animus."
"The old NightWing who lives under this mountain?" Turtle exclaimed.
Judging from his tone of surprise, Peril guessed that wasn't the secret he'd been thinking of. I wonder if I could threaten it out of him later.
Wait, no. This was one of those things Clay had to remind me about sometimes. Apparently, friends dont threaten to set each other on fire. Not very often anyhow.
I shook my head free of Peril's burning hot mind
"Yes," Sunny admitted. "He made the tunnels that lead from the rainforest to the NightWing island and the Kingdom of Sand. But he doesn't use his powers anymore."
"He might have to," Ruby said, "if there's a new animus on the loose, working for Scarlet, and he's the only one who can stop her."
I shivered again.
"Could it be another NightWing?" Turtle guessed. That made me freeze, taking in a shaky breath, meeting him. "Someone who escaped the volcanic island and went to team up with Scarlet?"
Moon didn't tell Turtle, right? No he knows that I can only read minds and see the future, but that's it. He thinks I'm like Moon.
Clay shuddered. "That would be ... not great for us."
"I'm not afraid of any animus," Peril blurted. "I bet I could stop it - him, her, whatever. I just have to sneak up on them and then POW, brain melted, claws a pile of cinders! No more creepy enchantments. Everybody cheers!" For me. Everybody cheers for me. Or at least, Clay tells me I'm wonderful.
I shivered again. I could already see myself screaming and withering in burning pain if I played the wrong card. I saw a copper shape engulfing me. Light smoke emanating from all over. The sickening sizzle. My scream. Marvin's blood curdling scream. Followed by a rifle shot. No. If that happened, neither of us would survive.
"But it might not be a bad dragon," Sunny said. I looked up to her, light flickering in my eyes. "This animus could be someone Scarlet has tricked or forced into working for her. We shouldn't just kill them without knowing the whole story."
I took a shaky breath, closing my eyes. Sunny would side with me in this argument.
"This is definitely not me agreeing with her," Ruby said, flicking her tail at Peril, "but I think we absolutely should. Animus dragons are so dangerous - and more so the more they use their powers. According to our history, the SkyWing tribe used to kill them the moment we figured out what they were."
I recoiled, blinking fast.
"But -" Sunny looked aghast, as did Turtle and me. "You mean, when they were still dragonets? Before they'd even done anything?"
"Before they could do anything," Ruby rebutted. "That's our policy with all dragons who are too dangerous to live." She slid her narrowed eyes over to Peril, who had already figured out who she was insinuating.
"Oh, dear," Sunny said in a small, squeaky, voice.
"That's not fair," Turtle protested. "Animus dragons can maybe do good things, too."
"Yeah! What's so wrong about them? They're still dragons, just like any of us."
I slammed my mouth shut, sending a sharp knock through my skull and a small pang through my teeth.
Everyone turned to look at me now. I wanted to shrimk away, chamoflage back into a corner of a small closet.
"Let's save worrying about it until we know she really has one," Clay said, looking back. "And who it is. We have enough else to worry about already."
"Like the rest of my winglet," Turtle said, lowering his head. "Do you think Moon and the others are safe? Weren't they going after Scarlet?"
"They were, but I don't know what's happened," Sunny said, pressing her claws together anxiously. "I tried to dreamvisit Kinkajou and Qibli last night but couldn't get into either of their dreams. I haven't been able to since they left. Oh, I hope they're all right."
"They probably are," Peril said. "Or else Scarlet would have been throwing their heads at you."
Then Sunny noticed me standing there. She motioned at me.
"Um. They're actualy okay. Moon's safe, Qibli's safe, Kinkajou's a Casualty, Winter is MIA."
"Great. More things I can't pronounce." Peril spat.
I couldn't decide to be triggered, set aback, or plain in awe.
"Someone's coming back," Clay said, standing up and spreading his wings to catch the attention of the dragons in the sky.
Three of Ruby's soldiers swooped down, spiraling gracefully; until they spotted Peril, at which point they all started flapping like insane pigeons with their tails on fire, until they finally landed in a thumping, haphazard row between her and Ruby.
"Don't you come near our queen," one of them snarled.
"I wasn't planning on it," Peril snapped back. "Do you actually think you could stop me if I was?"
"Peril," "Peril," Clay and I said softly. Him warningly, me with more of a warning.
BLAH. It wasn't FAIR that they could be rude and I can't set them on fire, or even growl back at them.
But Peril bit her tongue, sat back, and folded her wings across her chest, making sure she took up as little of the space on the rock ledge as possible. Clay gave her a sweet, grateful smile, which almost made it Ok for her.
"Ignore her," Ruby ordered to her guards. "What happened?"
"We overtook the SeaWing, but couldn't find Scarlet," said the tallest orange soldier. "The rest are still looking, but we wanted to come back and make sure you were guarded, in case it was a trick."
She was teleported. She's long gone by now.
"It was, in a way," said Ruby, nodding at the head.
"Someone has to catch Tsunami," said Sunny. "We have to tell her it's not Glory."
"She," Clay corrected. "She was somebody, even if she's not Glory." He took a deep breath and picked up the head.
A flash of Marvin's memories filled my vision. I saw him on the beaches for the first time. He saw all the bodies of the 1st Infantry. His brothers. I saw him pick up an arm, a leg. He helped bag the poor kid up.
I saw him holding this head... sobbing.
"Wait. If we can figure out who she is and where she's from," Ruby said suddenly, "it might be a clue about where Scarlet is hiding."
I shook myself back to clarity. That was an idea.
"You're right. Let's take her to Queen Moorhen." Clay turned toward Ruby, wincing as he set his weight on his injured leg. I nearly ran to catch him, although I want much less injured than he was. "That's the best place to start."
Ruby nodded, tilting her diamond-shaped head toward the more orange colored dragon. "Go catch the SeaWing and tell her to return," she ordered. "My soldiers should split up - half keep looking for Scarlet and the other half return to me. We'll leave for Moorhen's palace at midnight."
I don't know. If I were Marvin, I would keep the base of fire element and rifle grenadiers with me, send everyone else to search. Scouts can service a lot of ground. But then again, I was dealing with dragons here. Bigger, but times more mobility than men on foot.
All the SkyWings whirled into the air; the orange soldier went north, while Queen Ruby and the other two swept south toward Jade Mountain range.
"I'm going to try the dreamvisitor again," Sunny said to Clay.
"Try visiting Marvin." I said. "And tell him that I made it safely to Jade Mountain."
"I will. Thank you."
She braced to bounded away.
Clay reached over and twined his tail around Sunny's, then Peril felt a stab of jealousy so fierce I was surprised she didn't start shooting flames.
"They're all right. I'm sure they are," Clay said quietly to Sunny.
I nodded. "Sure they are." In Confirmation.
Sunny still shook her head without answering and lifted off into the sky.
Only me, Clay, Peril, and Turtle were left on the ledge.
I felt a tingly warmth as Peril gazed deep into Clay's warm brown eyes ...
"So, Scarlet is pretty scary, huh?"
Turtle startled Peril. I came out of chamo. I didn't even notice I had went into camouflage. The SeaWing edged closer to them, twitching his wings curiously.
Peril tried giving him a glare, of the go-away-we're-having-a-moment variant, but he didn't notice.
"Yes, she is," Clay said with a meaningful sigh.
What kind of sigh was that? Peril wondered. "Was it an 'I wish I were alone with Peril' sigh? Or a 'worried about my students' sigh? Knowing Clay, it could also be a 'we're all out of goats and I really wanted one' sigh." She said to herself softly.
I smirked.
"What are you going to do?" she asked him.
"I should stay here and guard the academy," he said thoughtfully. "But if Ruby agrees to leave enough guards to protect the students, I might go with her to see Queen Moorhen."
I could tell Peril didn't like that plan. She had a feeling she wouldn't be invited along on any diplomatic missions period, especially any that involved going inside other queens' palaces and possibly incinerating their national treasures by accident or the like He mind was very... aggresive.
"What about me?" she asked. "What should I do?"
He gave her a rueful smile that lit candles in her heart. I never took a long enough look before now, but I noticed Clay's eyes were similar to Marvin's. Although his were full on brown, and not hazel like his or mine. "Whatever you want to do, Peril. That's the whole point of being free from Scarlet, isn't it?"
"But what do you want me to do?" she pressed.
"Peril," Clay said, "I'm not going to be a new Scarlet for you. You get to make your own choices now."
I shivered. Just like Marvin. She needs someone to give her directions.
I am making my own choices, Peril thought grumpily. I'm choosing to do whatever you think I should do.
Maybe I could figure out what he wanted from the clues. Sometimes when Queen Scarlet was really angry, she wouldn't speak to me for weeks, and then I had to figure out on my own what I'd done wrong and how to fix it to make Queen Scarlet happy again.
So ... what does Clay want?
She studied him from horns to tail. He had turned to gaze back at Jade Mountain, his wings drooping heavily.
All right, it was pretty obvious, even to me (even to any outside observer): he wanted his friends and his school to be safe. But I shivered at her conclusion.
And the only way to do that was to get rid of Queen Scarlet forever.
Peril inhaled a sharp breath.
That was it. Clay would never say it out loud - he'd never ask me for it directly. But what he really wanted me to do was find Queen Scarlet and kill her for him.
I might be the only dragon in Pyrrhia who could - especially if an animus was protecting Scarlet now.
So as much as I never, never wanted to see Scarlet again, and as much as the idea of leaving Clay to find her was heart-wrenching, that was what I am going to have to do.
It's all right, Clay, she thought. You don't have to tell me. I know what you want, and I'll do it for you.
I'll find Queen Scarlet.
And I'll make sure she never ever hurts you again.
I took another shaky breath. The familiar feeling coming over Peril.
The veil of a killer.
And I was supposed to help her.