Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

chapter 12

By thedragonshifter
Pleiades's PoV

Since she had discovered the animus touched staff, ring, scroll, bracelet, and shackles, Pleiades had been trying to figure out how each one worked. Just clipping the earring into one of her ears and strapping the bracelet onto her wrist enabled machine's effects, but the staff was a different story. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't get it to teleport her anywhere. She had tried saying various things such as: " please Mr staff, teleport me to the Viper kingdom," "take me to the Spiral kingdom," and ,"it would be so nice if you were to just relocate me kindly to this wonderful placed called the Feather kingdom." And, she's tried yelling at the staff at the top of her lungs, saying things like: "TELEPORT ME TO THE STUPID VIPERWINGS YOU DUMB PIECE IF IRON OR ELSE IM GOING TO DROP YOU INTO THE CLOUDWING PRESCHOOL HOUSE!!!" But sadly, nothing she had tried worked.

Pleiades didn't think it was necessary to test out the shackles, for she was afraid that she would accidentally trap herself in them. So, she sat in the corner of the tiny rocky room, fiddling with the bracelet of strength and speed on her wrist and facing the magic scroll.

"Umm, scroll.. How do I work this teleportation staff.. Thing?" She asked. Small black words began appearing on its surface and they read: I'm afraid I can't tell you that, Pleiades the Sunwing. She growled,"why not?" The scroll then responded with,"Hemlock the Cloudwing prince enchanted me so that I cannot tell any dragon how to work these items." Pleiades growled once more. Who is this Hemlock? She glanced at all of the enchanted objects. Each one of them were very impressive. He must be a very powerful animus. Not someone I would want to run into.

Then, as she reached her talon up to mess with the earring, a sickening feeling came upon her. What if he found out that I had been messing with his enchanted objects? Would he kill me? Is he even still alive? I mean, if he were still alive then whey hadn't he been to this cave in so long?

She turned to the scroll,"Mr. Scroll, is Hemlock still alive?" Once again, tiny letters appeared on the scroll reading simply, "yes." And Pleiades found her claws scratching into the stone below her talons in anxiety. "Will he come back for his animus objects?" She asked shakily, and the scroll responded with,"I can't predict the future."

She lashed her tail in anger, nearly knocking down the iron staff that she had leaned against the wall. Of course the scroll can't predict the future! I'm so dumb to think that! With a sigh, she continued fiddling with the various animus objects and a particularly loud whooshing noise made her freeze. Was that the beating of wings?

She tried to listen for more noises, but the sound of her own heart beating seemed to be drowning everything out. Please let it be the wind, or some lost Cloudwing dragonets! She begged as she thought that she heard the scraping of something on stone. It could just be a tree branch that broke off of a tree and blew into my cave and was now scraping on the ground... She thought hopefully.

As the moments passed, she grew so nervous that at some points she even forgot to breathe, squinting into the semi-darkness and looking for the slightest of movements. And then, from the tiny sliver of light that was the cave entrance, she saw the silhouette of a dragon. She could see the outline of its fur, so she could tell that it was a Cloudwing. Yet, she couldn't see the color of its fur.

Then, the dragon stepped into the cave, its head looking back and forth. Its fur was puffed up, showing that the dragon was also nervous about being inside the cave. Who is this dragon, and what does it want? Then, the Cloudwing turned towards the the room that she was in, and Pleiades's eyes widened in recognition.

It's the dragon from yesterday! He came back? The spines on her back relaxed a little but not for long. That strange chilling sensation ran down her spine again as she remembered that he was a Cloudwing prince. But, he can't be Hemlock. There are probably five other Cloudwing princes out there that could be an animus, but..

"It's you again.." She growled, letting the spikes on her neck flare halfway up to make herself appear larger. The Cloudwing prince sniffed the dank air and shuffled his talons before replying. "Yah, it is me." He replied, his gaze staring straight into her own. "What do you want." Pleiades demanded as he stepped into the room that she was in.

The Cloudwing's gaze hardened as his eyes rested on the scroll on the ground, and then the staff and the shackles. "I want my stuff back." He growled, his claws curling into the stone. He wants his things back? Pleiades just looked at him blankly before he gestured to the various animus objects.

"Give me these artifacts. I enchanted them, so they belong to me." A fresh spark of fear lit in her chest after his last sentence. He's Hemlock, the one who made all of this animus stuff. He's the animus! "Wa-wait.. So.. So your an ani-an-" she stammered. Hemlock cut her off," what do you think I am? You think a normal dragon can make enchanted objects?" He snarled, though Pleiades thought that a small flash of sympathy lit his fierce eyes.

There was a few moments of silence before Hemlock scowled, looking at the iron staff,"I won't ask again. Give. Me. My. Weapons." Pleiades stared at him stubbornly,"if you're an animus, then why can't you just cast a spell to take your things back, or get rid of me?" She asked bravely, allowing her spines to rise on her back and neck. Hemlock shuffled his talons,"umm.. Because I.. Don't want to?" He glanced around again, suddenly nervous. Why is he so nervous? Shouldn't he be the one who is all hero- like ad brave?

Then, as quickly as his nervousness came, his eyes narrowed in frustration. Pleiades was frustrated as well. This is going nowhere. I might as well be the monster every dragon believes me to be. If everyone just sees me as an evil poison filled threat, then there is no point in being anything else.

As quick as a snake, she flicked her tail out in front if her, shooting poison spikes at Hemlock. However, Hemlock was faster then she realized and dodged each and every one of her spines. A snarl escaped Pleiades's throat. Why can't I ever hit him?!

Suddenly, Hemlock wasn't in front of her anymore. Confused, she whirled around and gasped when she saw that he had the iron staff in his talons. How is he so fast? Then, he lunged towards her, grabbing the horns on the back of her head while carefully avoiding touching any of her scales. "You deserve this." He snarled in her ear.

At first, Pleiades was confused at what he meant until a searing pain ripped through her, starting at her horns. She could feel her legs buckle underneath her as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ease the pain she felt. It was as if she were struck by a lightning bolt, but so much worse. Then, out of her right ear, she could hear the click! Of metal and mildly feel something cold on her wrists, before she knew that Hemlock had taken back his artifacts.