A few days had passed since Torrent received his scrolls from Mallard. He had been slowly working through them, and had gone back down to the library a few times to collect new ones, but so far Torrent had no luck in finding what he was searching for: anything that would help save Orca's soul. Yet, the SeaWing had come across a few interesting scrolls: for example, a description by Prince Ripple, son of Prince Fathom, of how Darkstalker used his magic to create a talisman containing his animus powers. Based on how the end of the Darkstalker legends worked out, Torrent somewhat doubted it had worked well.
Another different scroll gave an example of another animus, an ancient RainWing queen who had done the opposite of Darkstalker: she had created a phylactery to contain her soul and protect it from any adverse effects. Unfortunately, separating her soul from her body ended up killing her, so that was clearly not a viable option. Surprisingly, this was a scroll written by a RainWing; Torrent hadn't ever seen a RainWing scroll before, strangely enough. He hadn't even known they had writing.
The IceWing scroll probably would have ended up being the most useful, if Orca had never used her power to begin with. It described how the second queen of the IceWings, Queen Frost, had brought animus magic into the royal family through a marriage to an animus, and knowing the fowl effects of magic, she had set up the system in which animus dragons would only use their magic once throughout their entire life. Although there were numerous cases in IceWing history of their animus dragons using their magic twice, or even three times, they rarely caused much trouble, and Frost's system gave the IceWings prosperity for the next three thousand years. Torrent tried to remember how many times Orca had used her magic; it was much more than once, for certain.
As Torrent rolled up the scrolls and placed them into a neat pile, the SeaWing noticed a flash of metal out of the corner of his eye. There was something on his counter that hadn't been there before. He went over to check it out, and groaned. The dagger Orca had enchanted for him to kill her was there. Torrent had forgotten that Orca had enchanted it to return to him if he was separated, and it looked like it had finally arrived from the Sea Kingdom. He picked it up, and twirled it in his claws.
He remembered all the glares Prince Granite had been giving him in the dining rooms and hallways. Although he didn't particularly want the dagger, it wasn't like Torrent could just get rid of it, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a little extra protection on him, just in case Granite decided to do more than just words and glares. He decided it would be a good idea to go get a sheath for the dagger. There should be some extra ones down in the palace's armory, and he doubted Queen Moorhen would mind if he borrowed one. Torrent grabbed up the dagger, and left the room. It would be good to get out of his room anyways, he had been cooped up in there for many of the past few days reading musty scrolls. Remembering where the armory was, Torrent traversed the palace halls down to its location.
There were no guards around the armory, and Torrent entered freely. He scanned around the room. There were all sorts of weapons here: a fair amount of spears, swords, and sets of armor along the walls, along with some more exotic things. There were some three-pronged tridents in a corner, and another one of the corners had wooden barrels stacked in it. Carefully taking off the lid of the barrel, Torrent curiously looked inside them. He saw a coarse black powder, and thought about dragging a claw in it, before choosing better. It might be some kind of poison.
Putting the lid back in place, the SeaWing prince turned away to look at the sheathes. Placing his dagger into a few of them, he found a plain leather one which fit it. Torrent then looked for a strap to place it on. He grabbed one which went beneath his wing and wrapped around a foreleg, it was slightly large, but it seemed comfortable enough. He placed the dagger on and grinned; he liked the idea of being able to protect himself from any dragon which came his way. The prince placed a claw on his jeweled dagger and drew it in and out of the sheath, letting it glint in the candlelight.
Satisfied, Torrent quietly left the armory and headed back to his room, but it only took a few steps before he ran into a MudWing. Queen Moorhen stood in front of him, frowning slightly as she saw where Torrent had come from. "Your majesty," Torrent said, shaking.
Moorhen looked back to Torrent and noticed the strap and dagger. "Are you planning on leaving the palace so soon?" she asked, wondering what Torrent was doing.
"No, your majesty," Torrent replied, his heart crawling up his neck. "The dagger was a gift from my sister, and I wanted to find a matching sheath."
Moorhen glanced down to the dagger. The gemstones inlaid in it made it look more ceremonial and royal than just a plain weapon. "May I see?" she asked.
Torrent quickly nodded. He placed his claws on the hilt, and slowly started to pull it out. He noticed in surprise that the amethyst was warm. What did that do again? He thought Orca had once told him it detected enchanted items. As he brought the dagger towards Moorhen, it got warmer, meaning she must have an animus-touched item on her. He noticed the small silver bracelet around her foreleg, it looked like the culprit.
Moorhen noticed Torrent looking at her bracelet, and furrowed the scales above her eyes. "What is it?"
"Your bracelet," Torrent responded, wanting to draw the conversation away from the dagger. If Moorhen touched the amethyst, she would instantly know it was magical, and Orca's secret would be out. "Is it enchanted?"
Moorhen twitched her ears. She didn't seem to like Torrent realizing that. She was silent for a moment, and Torrent tensely wondered what she was going to do. Finally, she smiled, and relaxed slightly. "You have good perception; those scrolls you've been reading must be quite helpful. It is, it's been passed down by the queens since Queen Fen made it."
Torrent breathed a sigh a relief and tucked his dagger back into its sheath. "What does it do?" he asked.
"It's enchanted to vibrate when a dragon with bad intentions is nearby. It was designed to warn Queen Fen of potential spies and enemies." She chuckled slightly. "Not that it did its creator much good. You know what happened to her, don't you?"
Torrent nodded. Killed by her own brother after she had lost so much of her soul. "Does it vibrate around me?" Torrent asked, already suspecting the answer.
"Three moons, no," Moorhen sweetly answered. "I wouldn't have brought Mallard all the way out to the Summer Palace if it had. Nor your mother: for all her faults, Queen Coral seems like a well-intentioned dragon." Moorhen frowned. "Now on the other claw, it's hard to keep my claws from shaking when I'm around Princess Blister."
Torrent was confused. "Wait, why did you join her, then, if she has such poor intentions?"
Moorhen sighed. "By the time we joined the war, the IceWings, SeaWings, and SkyWings had already taken their sides. Knowing that the RainWings and NightWings wouldn't join the war, we were the only tribe left, and all three princesses were vying for us, knowing that having two kingdoms on their side would be a huge advantage. At first, we attempted to remain peaceful, but Burn and Scarlet threatened to attack us if we refused to join them. Granite convinced me that if we had to choose between the two, Blister would be a much better alternative than Blaze for a variety of reasons, so I ignored the bracelet's warnings.
"With two kingdoms behind her claim, Blister should have been able to quickly end the war. Unfortunately, because a number of our generals were captured or assassinated within the first few months of the campaign, and an temporary truce between Burn and Blaze, the war doesn't look like it will be ending anytime soon."
Moorhen looked at Torrent and smiled. "Well, I'm sure that's enough of my politics and complaining for you. You're busy with Mallard's scrolls, aren't you? I'll let you get back to that."
And with a swish of her tail, Moorhen had left Torrent back to his reading. The SeaWing prince climbed back up the stairs to the guest room, and settled down to work.