Wings of Fire - The LostWing Chronicles, Book 1 - The Awoken

Chapter 8

 Her sleep worsened again, falling back into unrelenting nightmares. The overwhelming guilt had coalesced to form cycling dreams showing the consequences of her actions upon Pyrrhia; the SeaWing tribe being attacked in the Summer Palace again by SkyWings wild with resentment and greed; the stone statue and magic mirror harming royals around the entire continent; her magic leading to the collapse of the tribes into anarchy. As her mind worked on and on, she convinced herself that the true danger to Pyrrhia was her, no matter what Nocturne foresaw otherwise. I can't be trusted with power - I can't be the reason everyone dies - I've failed, I've failed. They're right to fear me.

I hope they never release me from whatever they've trapped me in.

When she found herself stirring in her sleep, she therefore had reason to panic wildly. The light filtering through her eyelids was a harbinger of destruction; the cold surface she felt pressing on her sides was a surefire messenger of doom. As soon as she found her voice, she cried out. "No, send me back! I'll hurt someone else - please - I can't be trusted - don't let me be dangerous! I can't be here!"

Should I enchant myself back to sleep? - no, no more enchantments, no - never again. Why wasn't someone knocking her out again yet? Don't cast a spell, whatever you do. Don't think of one. Anadrom had to distract herself somehow, so she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry and dazed by the light of the chamber, which she slowly recognized as the electric-eel prison where the dragonets of destiny had been imprisoned on their own visit to the Kingdom of the Sea. The area was entirely empty of all cascading-water cages and glowing eels now, but the geometric divots in the stone floor and the odd metallic contraptions that had worked the cages remained. She turned her head slightly to look at her wing, and realized she was encased entirely in a metallic shell hanging suspended from the cave ceiling.

Feeling suddenly claustrophobic, she tried to lift her tail or back talons, and found them entirely cased in by cold iron. There were additional beams running from key points on the shell to the floor and walls of the caverns, she now realized. Each of them were wired in turn to dangerous-looking machinery standing at regular intervals in a circle around her. If she escaped somehow and shook the casing, they would spring into action, and by the looks of them would collapse the cave.

There was a shimmer of movement below, and she saw that another SeaWing was in the cavern with her. He appeared to be around thirty years of age, with dark emerald scales and lighter-colored wings marked with the royal SeaWing patterns. Around his upper arm was a single golden bracelet, adorned with three glittering black rocks and empty slots where three more could have been placed. His claws were stained with ink halfway up, and he wore a pouch full of scrolls around his neck. Turtle, Anadrom thought with surprise, having read of the heroic prince and author in the scrolls at the village library. The SeaWing prince was staring up at her as if he was regretting this visit, but also as if she had in some way redeemed his trust. He has to leave - I can't endanger him.

"No, no!" she said frantically down at him. "You have to send me back and leave! Please, it's not safe. I don't want to hurt anyone." Turtle didn't move in any way, except for a parade of emotions swirling around his face. "Please?"

"I know how you feel," he said quietly, which completely surprised her. While Turtle had been an animus, he had been a hero, helping to defeat Darkstalker - not becoming like the monstrous NightWing, as she had. How could he possibly think he was like her? He continued and she listened despite herself. "As if you could do anything wrong at any moment. End up using your powers for evil, despite the fact that you know inwardly that you're a good dragon."

This was exactly how she felt, and he seemed to read that upon her face, for he nodded slowly. "It was just a guess, but I thought it was a good one. Good job, me. Hooray and such."