Torrent was not wrong. The four flew as quick as they could by only night, and reached the SandWing coast before a week passed. From above, the ocean and the desert met in a clear boundary, where a thin line of brown separated the golden sand from the turquoise waters. A burst of salty air pushed past Torrent, and down below, he could see the waves of the water gently crashing against the sand, where gentle dunes of sand met them in a similar pattern. It was as if the waves had only changed material, and continued their journey from the water onto the desert, and further across it.
The location of the animus was obvious. Near miniscule patches of greenery and a singular palm tree stood a tiny hut in a cove, the only structure within sight. The roof was covered with palm fronds, and it appeared to be only a singular room from above. Unless the animus had enchanted it somehow. For all Torrent knew, it could be the size of the Deep Palace on the inside. There was a small wooden door, closed at the moment. Torrent started to dive down, before Nightreader suddenly called out, asking him to wait. He turned his head back up.
"Are you planning to offer the animus the same choice as you did my brother?" Nightreader questioned. "To get rid of their magic?"
Torrent sighed. He thought about it for a moment. It was true, that Stonemover hadn't been able to use his magic, but he still wasn't quite certain that it had worked. It would be safer if he didn't. "I can try," he responded, "but if we're attacked or threatened, I can't offer any assurances. Make sure neither you nor your brother interfere."
Nightreader frowned, and glanced over at Stonemover, but didn't comment further. Torrent angled his wings, gliding downwards, with Griffin, Nightreader, and Stonemover all following. Before long, they reached the sand in front of the house. Clawprints were positioned around the door. They were fresh — the wind hadn't covered them up, and the surf hadn't washed them away.
Torrent stepped forward, up to the door. He'd barely be able to fit into the frame.
"Should we knock?" Stonemover squeaked out.
Torrent didn't knock. "Reveal yourself, animus!" he roared, immediately throwing his weight against he door.
Almost falling off its hinges, the unlocked door slammed around, causing a shuddering throughout the house. A piece of palm leaf fell off the roof, fluttering onto one of the spines on Torrent's back. A SandWing rendered motionless by the surprise stood inside the hut, organizing a miniscule shelf of scrolls in the back. She turned herself around quietly, staring at the intruders.
"Er, I wasn't expecting visitors," the SandWing replied, taken aback. She moved her neck to peer around behind Torrent, seeing the three others behind him. "But, um, welcome." She glanced around the small hut, as if checking if there was enough room for all of them. She flicked her barbed tail out to the side, invoking a twitch from Torrent, but only used it to move a scroll from out in the center of the hut to the edge. "I have agave wine, if you want to come in for drinks."
Torrent frowned, confused by the SandWing's reaction, and stepped into the hut, ducking his horns to fit through the door. Was this a trap for him? The SandWing walked a bit further towards where a small cabinet of palm wood stood, one door open enough. As the SandWing continued, a small glint of light in it caught Torrent's eyes, and he leaped towards her, claws out stretched. She let out a yelp of surprise, and jumped back, her tail instinctively curling up in front of her, flashing her poisonous barb.
"Make another step towards the cabinet, and I'll slit your throat," Torrent growled.
"Torrent!" Griffin squawked in shame. The SandWing hadn't tried to attack them at all; the threat of violence was completely unnecessary. Torrent looked over at Griffin, and shook a horn towards the cabinet with a glance. Griffin took a step into the hut to see what had caused the SeaWing's reaction — a small green diamond, dust covering the surface of the gem, rested in the cabinet. Just like the ones the other animuses had used to escape. "Wait, don't attack her," Griffin hissed in warning. Maybe the SandWing would be able to tell them what it did, and where the other animuses had gone.
"No agave wine?" the SandWing asked, utterly confused.
Nightreader stepped into through the door, Stonemover groveling behind her. "Agave wine is fine," she snorted. "Our SeaWing friend can just be a bit hasty." She gave Torrent a glare. He had said he wouldn't attack her first, hadn't he?
"It's, er, in there." the SandWing commented, twisting her neck to look around Torrent, who kept moving to position himself between the animus and the palm cabinet. "You're welcome to serve it yourself. I have plenty. Dragons may die, but wine is better aged!"
Griffin stepped into the fray, behind Torrent. Torrent frowned as Griffin opened the other door, revealing a few watertight barrels of palmwood. He took one out, along with a few similarly fashioned cups. It looked like the SandWing had made the woodware herself.
"Is this it?" Griffin asked. The SandWing nodded quickly, and took a few more steps back. Griffin pulled out five cups and a barrel, and carrying them in his talons, wobbled over on two legs to the center of the hut, where he set them down. The SandWing walked over, and filled them each a cup. Stonemover and Nightreader sat down by a pair, and Torrent cautiously moved away from the cupboard. As he set on his hind and raised a cup to smell the drink, his tail twitched behind him, still cautious that the SandWing would make a move.
"I'm Nightreader," Nightreader started as she took a sip, then turned to her brother. "The NightWing next to me is my brother, Stonemover. He's an animus. Well, he used to be. Am I correct that you're the same?"
Torrent took a sip, almost spitting it out. Was she sure it was wine? It was stronger than he'd expected. He glanced back up with a frown. Something seemed different about the SandWing. Just compared to when he first saw her, she seemed . . . older. The alcohol, perhaps?
The SandWing smiled, but fidgeted a bit uncomfortably. "Yes, you're correct. You really did your research, didn't you?"
"Griffin," Griffin introduced, "and the overly-violent SeaWing is Torrent." Torrent let out a hmph as he heard this. This SandWing was the enemy. They shouldn't be sitting down and drinking agave wine with her; they should have slit her throat out by now.
The SandWing nodded. "That's alright. He wouldn't be the first violent dragon on Pyrrhia I've met. I'm Jerboa. You're the first visitors I've had in quite a long time, you know that?"
"Jerboa?" Torrent interrupted. "You mean, like the Jerboa?" He thought back to the scrolls he had read. He remembered Jerboa being mentioned a few times, but there were many conflicting legends around who she truly was, or if she had truly ever existed. Some SeaWing scholars had claimed she'd created the Eye of Onyx before the Scorching, others believed she'd created the Dreamvisitors around the time of Darkstalker. Whirlpool's explanation was that she wasn't real at all, Jerboa had just been been created by the SandWing Queen Shrub to justify her usurping of Queen Scorpion through explaining the creation of the Eye of Onyx, which had probably been around much longer. The queen and her descendents' stories had continuously changed over time, hence the amount of misinformation surrounding Jerboa.
Jerboa shook her head with a chuckle. "No, that was my mother. Very long gone, I'm afraid. She died around five-thousand years ago; I'm almost all that remains of her now. Now, what has brought you here? I'm afraid I don't use my magic to give out favors, if that's what you're hoping for."
"No," Torrent answered. "We're not here for favors. I'm an animus hunter, and I'm here to kill you."
"We're willing to let you live if you give up your powers," Nightreader said with a glare at the SeaWing.
Griffin thought for a moment. "And if you explain the green diamond in your cupboard," he quickly added.
Jerboa stood quiet for a moment, pondering what had just been said. She chuckled kindly. "Look," she explained quietly, "I really don't think that'll work. You see, after I hatched, my mother put a charm on me. Unfortunately, I'm unable to be hurt."
"We have ways around that," Torrent growled. "You're not safe, even with your magic."
Jerboa tapped a claw. "In that case, I would like to take the former choice, though I'm still willing to tell you about the diamond."
"Wait," Griffin asked, not sure if he had understood her correctly, "you're saying that you're going to let us kill you?"
The SandWing nodded. "Of course. I've been around thousands of years, and have done everything a dragon could do, except perhaps dying. I'm quite exhausted, to be honest. Immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be, and I never had a choice in the matter. If you can get rid of my mother's curse, I'd be very grateful." She glanced down at her paws, and chuckled as she gulped down a sip of wine. "I can already see scales my dulling of age. Although a bit of time to get my affairs in order would be nice."
Torrent was somewhat relieved. The SandWing didn't seem like a bad animus. This way, there'd be one less animus to worry about, and he'd be helping her out.
"Torrent can do that," Griffin answered, "but we need to know about that green diamond."
Jerboa stood up on all fours, setting down her empty cup. "Oh, that thing. I haven't had it for very long. A couple decades, at most. As short as the Dragonet Queen's reign. You wouldn't know her. Her reign was too short to have been recorded." She turned around, and started walking over towards the cabinet.
Torrent finished the last sip of his wine, and put down the cup as he watched the SandWing walk over. As she opened the doors of the cabinet, it suddenly struck Torrent, slightly later than it probably should have, that Jerboa might not have been telling the truth. "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" he roared, pouncing at Jerboa, who was pulling the green diamond from the cabinet.
The surprised SandWing threw the diamond up in surprise as the enormous SeaWing tackled her. Torrent used a wing to knock the diamond away as he pushed Jerboa down, crashing into the cupboard behind her. As he quickly overcame the confused SandWing, the green gem sailed through the air, sliding across the floor. When it came to a rest at his paws, Stonemover picked it up, holding it to the air as light glinted through it.
Torrent whipped around, and seeing yet another animus with a green diamond, he roared, "Let it go!"
With a squeal, Stonemover did just that, tossing it into the air as he lurched back. Griffin leaped forward to catch it mid-air, clutching it tightly in his talons as he crashed into Stonemover, tumbling over him.
Suddenly, a burst of green light spread through the room. Torrent looked away, the glittering light reflecting in Jerboa's dark eyes. When it faded, both Griffin and Stonemover were gone, leaving behind specks of green dust and now, only three dragons.