Sands of Time(Soon undergoing HEAVY revision)

Chapter 5

          Coyote felt as if he had just been whacked across the face with a dead vulture. He was completely shocked, and just stared up at her for a moment. She was huge- much larger than when they had fought. She was spread out across the throne like nobody's business, picking a pebble out of her claws. She looked up at Coyote and the guards, and he recognized some of her many scars as some his claws and fire had left, and enjoyed that fact a small amount.

Oddly enough, she held a golden scepter with precious stones embedded in the top. The main stone, on the top, was a large emerald about the size of a dragon's eye, and surrounding the base of the emerald was a ruby, a diamond, an amethyst, and a lapis lazuli stone.

Even odder, there was a SeaWing next to her throne. The SeaWing had beautiful cerulean scales, and she was wearing a silver necklace with an emerald that perfectly matched the one atop Taipan's scepter. She stood perfectly still, only moving her chest as she breathed, and she stared ahead with a blank look on her face. That SeaWing is kind of like the SandWing who was watching me sleep. Coyote thought, and as soon as that thought went through his mind he noticed the very same dragon who he met when he woke up in the desert. Somehow Coyote hadn't noticed before, but he was wearing a golden necklace with a diamond set in the pendant. The dragon was standing exactly as the SeaWing was, not moving except to breathe.

"Why, hello there, Coyote. It's been a while, hasn't it? I've, say, upgraded, since we last met." Taipan said, her voice honeyed yet full of venom at the same time. She looked at him smugly. "After you killed Dingo, I took over the group. I recruited some new dragons, and, as you can see, we have grown quite large. I even have a... friend from another tribe." She said, motioning to the SeaWing. Every once in a while, one of the SeaWing's talons would twitch.

"Get to the point. Why am I here?" Coyote growled. He eyed the SeaWing, who hadn't moved at all other than the twitching. He noticed three necklaces of ruby, amethyst, and lapis lazuli locked in a display box on the wall above the throne. The necklaces worn by the SeaWing and SandWing looked as if they belonged in that box, as there were two empty spaces in the box. All of the gems matched the ones on the scepter, and they gave the room a creepy tingly feel. It felt as if invisible spiders were dancing on his scales.

"Why, I just wanted to see my dear old friend, Coyote." Taipan said in a mocking tone. "You ruined our clan. We were inseparable. Wallaby, Abrojo, Dingo- You- you and that SeaWing- you killed them all. Your pretty green friend made it so Kaibab could never fly again." Taipan said, her voice filled with hatred. "You demolished us. And soon, six years later, you are going to pay for what you did to them." She snarled, rising onto her hind legs.

"You tried to sell off my dragonet to Burn!" Coyote roared at her. "You would have sentenced a tiny dragonet, an egg, to a terrible life, locked in Burn's fortress just for what? A little pile of golden treasure? Simply because her mother was a SeaWing?" He said, yelling at the top of his lungs. He lunged at her, but the chains prevented him from leaping all the way. He shot a blast of fire at her, but she ducked out of the way just in time. His fire left a scorch mark on Taipan's throne, and she gave him a glowering look. She picked up her scepter and tapped the emerald on the top. Coyote stared at her in confusion. 

Suddenly, the SeaWing jolted upright and raised her talons. To Coyote's shock, her talons began to glow an unearthly blue, she muttered something under her breath, and a spear on the wall, glowing the same blue, wrenched itself off the wall and shot itself towards Coyote. He yelled and ducked, but the spear impaled itself into the wall above the door instead. He stared up at the spear, and then back at the SeaWing. An ANIMUS? I thought all of the animuses... animi? Died generations ago!

"You... You have an animus." He managed to sputter out. "Okay. You have an animus." He stepped back for a moment. The SeaWing had returned to her rigid state. A malicious grin spread across Taipan's face. "Indeed I do. I also have something else, which I will gladly show you right now," Taipan said. "Pin him down." She suddenly barked to the guards, who immediately obeyed. Before Coyote had a chance to react, he was pinned down by two dragons. He tried to wiggle free, but the dragons were too strong. Taipan hooked the ruby necklace off the wall and swiftly placed it on Coyote's neck, despite his loud protesting.

And then Coyote's body began to move on its own. The guards got off of him, and his legs pushed themselves to a sitting position by themselves. He tried to fight them, to lash his tail, to do anything, but his body had betrayed him. It's animus touched and MY LEGS ARE DISOBEYING ME WHAT IS HAPPENING AAAAAAAAH Coyote's mind screamed. He was on the verge of pure panic, as his entire body had been hijacked by the enchantment. Taipan tapped the ruby on the scepter, and jolted her scepter upwards. His body stood up on its own. She moved it in a circle, and he turned in a circle as well.

"As you can see, I can essentially force you to do anything. I could make you fly into the ocean and drown yourself, or to walk into Burn's palace and hand yourself in." Taipan said, gleefully forcing him to do various things with the scepter. This... What kind of animus magic can do this? This is mind control. I thought animus magic was limited to objects? Coyote thought as Taipan's scepter forced his wings to extend as far as they could go in the chains and fold up again. The dragons in the room watched quietly, some with expressions of horror, some happy for their leader, and some disinterested in general, and some standing still in obedience. Taipan did a curling movement with the scepter and tapped the ruby, and Coyote's talons lifted the necklace off.

The second he had control of his body again he flung himself as far away from the horrible thing as he could. He scrambled backwards as far as he could into the tunnel and couldn't stop a terrified look from taking hold on his face. He looked at Taipan, and back at the necklace, and at the SeaWing. Did she enchant that- that monstrosity of a thing? Coyote wondered.

"Oh no, she didn't enchant this wondrous tool. I found it in a scavenger den. Foolish things, only good for midday snacks." Taipan scoffed. "Guards, take him back to his cell." She barked, and the guards took him back to his cell. They undid Coyote's chains and unceremoniously threw him back inside, leaving him to think to himself about Taipan's new power.

If she really wanted to... She could use that and force me to show her where Calypso is.

Or even worse- Kill her.