Chapter 17

New allies are made, and new foes are on the way.

So many thoughts were going through Windracer's head.

Frost killed Gill.

But he spared my life.

Gill was the SeaWing king.

But maybe Frost didn't know that.

Tell them.

Don't tell them.

The poor hybrid didn't know what to do. He looked up at his friends. None of them seemed to recognize the IceWing that had killed King Gill. Except for Storm. The look in her eyes told Windracer that she knew exactly who it was.

Windracer shakingly put the mirror in his bag and raised a talon towards Arid's mother. "Can I...speak with you, for a minute?"

Storm looked a little surprised, but she nodded. "Yes, of course."

Windracer looked amongst his friends, expecting them to leave. But they stayed put. Whatever he had to say, they wanted to hear it, too.

That is, until he added quite firmly, "Alone?"

The other dragons obliged, muttering amongst themselves as they tried to guess what it was Windracer had wanted to ask Storm.

Once he was sure they were far enough away, he cautiously asked, "Do you know the IceWing we saw in the mirror?"

Storm nodded. "Queen Glacier's son, Prince Frost. We've fought together in the war a few times. He always dreamed of becoming an expert warrior. I doubt Coral will be very happy about this."

"I don't think I'll be able to tell her," Windracer said, shaking his head. "Frost spared my life. I feel like I owe him."

"I know," Storm said. "I saw. Never thought he had it in him to let a NightWing live, not even if they were a hybrid like you."

Windracer looked away. "He only let me go because I tried to help his sister," he confessed. "I don't think there was anything else that would have stopped him from killing me." He willed himself to look at Arid's mother. "You can go ahead and tell Queen Coral about Prince Frost. The whole truth. She deserves to know the whole story of what happened to King Gill."

Storm only nodded before padding over to the sobbing SeaWing queen. The IceWing whispered something into Coral's ear, and just like that, she was upright at attention.

Windracer turned away. He didn't want to see or hear what was being said. A small tug on his wing made him look down. Anemone was there, and she looked a little frightened.

"Why is mother so upset?"

The hybrid wasn't sure how to answer. All he could think to say was, "Why are you asking me?"

"I saw you show her a mirror," said Anemone. "And then she started crying. Is the mirror magic? Are you an animus? What did you show her?"

Windracer could only answer one question at a time. "Yes, I am an animus. I enchanted this mirror to show anyone a requested event from Pyrrhia's past. I used it to show Queen Coral what happened to your father, King Gill."

Now Anemone was curious. "What happened to him?"

Oh, how in the world was Windracer going to answer that? This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

"He was killed," he said. "By a dragon who was trying to survive as much as he was. They were forced to fight each other, and only one of them could get out alive." He left out the part where Gill had been dehydrated to the point of insanity. He didn't want little Anemone to remember her father as being a maniac.

Blinking back tears, Anemone asked again, "You're an animus?"

"I'm an animus," Windracer confirmed.

The little princess bounced right out of her misery. "You must feel special. I'm the only animus in my family, so I'm really special."

Somewhere nearby, Windracer caught a glimpse of a few of Lagoon's brothers. One of them, around four or five years old, was looking right at him and Anemone. Windracer waved his talons at the prince, but the younger dragon's eyes were locked on Anemone.

Was that guilt Windracer saw in the SeaWing's eyes?

The animus princess failed to notice that she and Windracer were being watched. She just kept rambling on and on about how awesome it was to be an animus, and all the accomplishments they wouldn't have been able to do without their powers. The more she talked, the more her brother tried to hide his look of...regret?

"Hold on a minute," Windracer said gently. Leaving a confused Anemone, the hybrid padded over to the other SeaWing and asked, "Are you okay?"

The prince shook his head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Windracer asked.

The SeaWing hesitated, then nodded. He raised his talons to point into the far corner, which was devoid of any dragons. Understanding, Windracer led himself and the prince into the corner, gently patting Anemone on the head as they passed by.

When Windracer was sure they were alone, he asked the prince, "What's wrong?"

Scrunching up his face as though he were in pain, the prince avoided Windracer's eyes.

"Anemone isn't an animus."

He spoke so quietly, Windracer didn't hear a word he'd said. "What?"

Sighing, the prince forced himself to look at the hybrid. "Anemone isn't really an animus," he said. "I am. I enchanted her to be one because I didn't want to be discovered. Mother always dreamed that Anemone would be an animus, and I didn't want them to find out about my power. So, I enchanted her to have magic, to let her have all the attention instead of me. To Mother, I'm just another one of her many sons who is useless and can't inherit the throne, and I want it to stay that way. I've always dreamed of being a hero, but I guess I always knew deep down that could never be me. I failed to find Snapper this one time, and my sisters were killed because of me. I was using a piece of coral I enchanted to help me find what I was looking for, but it wasn't leading me to anywhere near where Snapper was supposed to be. I knew then that if anyone knew I was an animus, I'd always be the animus who failed to use the power he had to save his sisters. Maybe that's who I'm destined to be, a failure."

Windracer sat down. Hard.

There were aspects about this prince that resembled him. His insecurity, his fear of failing, his desire to hide his powers to avoid hurting anyone or doing something wrong.

Windracer reached into the leather pouch that was hanging from around his neck and pulled out the wooden bowl he'd enchanted. "Let me explain something, uh..." He wasn't sure what to refer to the SeaWing as.

"Turtle," the prince blurted out. Then he spoke more calmly. "My name is Turtle."

Windracer nodded. "Turtle," he said, testing out the name. "Your powers don't make you who you are. It's what you do with that power that counts. The choices you make, the actions you take, that's what defines who you are. I learned that after I stepped out from under the mountain. Now it's your turn." He held out the bowl for the SeaWing to take. "I enchanted this to double the amount of whatever is in it. All you have to do is put something in there, say 'twice as much, please,' and the amount will be doubled. I haven't really used it much, so you can have it, if you want."

Turtle reached out and grabbed the bowl. His eyes were cloudy, as if he was about to cry. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. Windracer, right?"

The hybrid nodded in confirmation.

"Thank you," said Turtle.

Just then, there was a shrill scream from the middle of the room. Windracer jumped in surprise before hurrying over to see what was going on. Auburn suddenly barreled past him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He found Queen Coral, and asked hastily, "What's going on?"

"We found a dead SkyWing on a nearby island," answered a female SeaWing with grey-green scales and small, unsettling, bone-pale eyes that reminded Windracer of Commander Shark.

"This is Moray," Coral said, "The daughter of Commander Shark, and my niece."

Windracer had a feeling she was going to say that. He'd seen Princess Moray in close proximity to her father on the SeaWing Council, and it was easy to see the resemblance. Then his mind drifted back to what Moray had just said. "What's this about a dead SkyWing?"

Moray pointed to the table, where a rust-colored body was being laid across. "The patrol found it on a nearby island. They didn't know what to do with it, so they brought it here. Apparently, she was attacked and killed by a SandWing. Which is odd, because, for what reason would a SkyWing and a SandWing be fighting in SeaWing territory?"

Windracer's blood ran cold as ice as he pushed past Moray to get a look at the body of the dead SkyWing. He'd already had a suspicion about who it was, but only when he officially recognized the corpse did he understand why his mother had been so upset.

It was Kestrel.

Sad as it may be, I'm starting to lose interest in this story, mostly because of how passionate I am about my other crossover series. Updates may be slower, but don't think for a second that this story is dead.

Auburn - Valka
Windracer - Hiccup
Arid - Astrid
Lagoon - Heather
Bog - Fishlegs
Marmoset and Mango - Tuffnut and Ruffnut
Killer - Stoick
Inferno - Snotlout
Scorch - Spitelout
Frost - Dagur