Gazelle led Griffin and Stonemover from Erosion's chamber, the two great doors slamming behind them. Stonemover let out a sigh of relief, as if he had been holding his breath the entire time they were in there. The three stepped down the warm chambers, unsure what was happening. It was hot in here, though nowhere near as much as it should be naturally, given the volcanic activity. Right for a SandWing, and normal for a NightWing, but less so for others.
"Are we going back to the lava pit?" Stonemover whined quietly. He didn't seem to keen upon returning there, and nor was Griffin.
Gazelle shook her head. "You're being taken to your chambers, where you'll stay until Erosion needs you. The caves aren't large. It's not easy to get lost."
"That's good," Griffin muttered sarcastically. It would be larger than where he was confined to in the Deep Palace, at least. "Why are you doing this?"
The elderly SandWing turned her head around, frowning. "Me?" she asked. Griffin nodded. She thought for a moment. "Same as you," she answered. "I don't have a choice here. She'll kill me without a second thought if I try to escape, and it's not like I have any leverage over her; she could easily enchant a rock to do my job. No offense intended."
Griffin snorted. It sounded like Erosion and Gazelle had done their research on him and Torrent. "None taken. I thought you could control the animuses, like what you did with that SeaWing. Couldn't you use them to take down Erosion?"
Gazelle chuckled, although it turned into a wheeze. After she caught her breath, she shook her head. "I can move their bodies around, but I can't make them use magic. Only Erosion can do that. I don't even know why she still keeps me around. Nostalgia, I suppose. She's quite a bit older than she looks. I am too, even though I do look pretty old. My mother served her father, a minor noble, when Erosion was growing up. His head ended up on a pike after a princess he supported failed her royal challenge, and his daughter was put on the streets. Quite a shock. I suppose she likes me because I remind her of that time, before his death. But don't mention I told you that, she doesn't like to appear sentimental."
That was a bit of a shock. The Erosion that Griffin had seen emanated only cruelty and arrogance. "How do you control them?" Griffin asked. "The animuses. Is the enchantment on the metal bands?" He shook his feathers, the band around his wings rubbing painfully.
"Oh!" Gazelle exclaimed, startling Stonemover. "I can get rid of the one around your wings, only the one around your neck needs to remain. You're not able to leave the island without her permission anyways, it's mainly to make sure no one tries and ends up drowning." She flicked her tail back and forth, causing Stonemover to take a jump away from her barb. In a clink, the bands around Griffin and Stonemover's wings and body split into two, and fell to the ground. Griffin stretched out his wings, glad they were finally free, while Stonemover rubbed his claws on the soft scales of his underbelly, rubbed raw.
Gazelle stepped by them, picking up the two metal bands and placing them under her wings. "I'll put these back in storage," she said, then turned to Griffin. "About your question, there's two enchantments, one on the collars around your neck, and a second on a scale within my tail, one in Erosion's tail too. That's what lets us, and only us, control you all. The enchantment is somewhat long and detailed, and I doubt Erosion would be happy if I told you it. She has it written down in a scroll in the storage room, along with the rest of the enchantments she's used. She's very careful with magic, even if she knows it's not her soul which is getting hurt from using it."
Griffin spread out his wings once more, flapping it up and down. He was a little confused. Gazelle had told him Erosion would be unhappy if she told him the enchantment, but then went on to say where Erosion has every enchantment written down? She had also told him about Erosion getting sentimental. Maybe Gazelle was a bit more willing to work against Erosion than she had originally let on.
Stonemover stood up, tensed. "You said that she enchanted your scales?" he asked, a bit worried. "I thought it wasn't possible to enchant living materials . . ."
Gazelle scoffed. "And who told you that?" she asked. "Your queen?"
Stonemover averted his eyes, confirming Gazelle's suspicions.
"There's quite a bit more to animus magic than what most dragons know," Gazelle chuckled. "And it can be quite difficult to tell the lies and the myths from the facts. You should ask Erosion about that. She's dedicated much of her life to learning about animus magic, and how to use or abuse it. She can be a bit intimidating at first, but she'd be happy to share what she knows. It's one of her favorite topics to talk about."
Griffin found that very difficult to believe. Stonemover muttered something under his breath that Griffin couldn't make out, and it didn't look like Gazelle had heard him. "Sounds like she'd get along with Torrent," he sarcastically replied. "How many animuses are there here?"
Gazelle glanced back at him in concern, then from side to side. "You should probably stop asking questions," she muttered. "It make dragons suspicious."
Griffin took that as his cue to be silent. If Gazelle was really on their side, he should put at least a little faith in her. And if she wasn't, then asking again wouldn't help.
The SandWing led Griffin and Stonemover down one of the tunnels they had passed by on their way in, which ended in a few caves budding out from it. Griffin peered in. Only one dragon was there at the moment, another SandWing. She was reading a scroll, laying on the ground. A variety of rings were on her talons, holding the piece of paper down to the rocky floor.
"That'll be your room," Gazelle stated, coughing, "although I doubt you'll have to stay in there long."
The SandWing's ears perked up. "We're leaving soon?" she asked, glancing up hopefully at Gazelle.
Gazelle nodded. "I'll be back here before too long," she notified Griffin and Stonemover. "The metal bands are heavy, and they're starting to strain my wingblade." She lifted up her right wing as if to show them, the two restraints being carried beneath it. She glanced over to Griffin. "Also, the answer to your question is ten, including Stonemover and Erosion."
Making a wide circle, Gazelle turned around, her barbed tail trailing behind her, leaving Stonemover and Griffin with the SandWing on the ground. "Glad that old hag is gone," she grumbled. "She thinks she's so special, just because Erosion likes her. She should consider it to be an honor here, among all us animuses." The SandWing turned to Griffin. "And what are you?" she sputtered.
"A gryphon," Griffin answered matter-of-factly, not caring to answer the rude question with more specifics.
"Great," the SandWing hissed. "Don't molt in our room." She looked over towards Stonemover. "Did Erosion have to remove your powers or something? She did some stuff to my rings. I can't use them unless she tells me to anymore."
"Powers?" Stonemover asked, confused. "I think so," he lied, knowing that he'd removed his own animus powers before even arriving on the island. It might be bad if Erosion, or any of the other animuses here found that out. "That's what this collar thing does, right?" He tugged a little at it with his claws.
"I meant your NightWing powers, not your animus powers," the SandWing growled.
"Oh," Stonemover stammered. He'd forgotten that he'd had those. "Er, yeah," he lied, "can't do any mind-reading or future-telling now. Very frustrating, you see. It's like someone, um, clawed my ears off. Awful."
The SandWing rolled her eyes, and flicked her barbed tail across the stone. "Do you have a name?"
Stonemover quickly nodded. "Stonemover," he answered.
"I'm Griffin," Griffin added.
"No one asked you," the SandWing hissed, baring her teeth at Griffin. "Are you even an animus? I'm Goanna."
Griffin clenched up, his feathers standing on end. Goanna. That was the name of the animus Torrent had attempted to kill in Possibility. Gila's daughter. That wasn't good. Torrent wouldn't be very popular here, and that SeaWing alre—
"Well?" Goanna exclaimed angrily. "I asked you a question. Are you an animus, or not?"
Griffin thought furiously, trying to make something good up, but he didn't have enough time. Before he could respond, a furious voice sounded from behind him.
"There he is!" a voice roared. "I told you he was here!" The SeaWing Griffin had seen in the hallway earlier was standing in the tunnel, along with the two MudWing siblings Griffin and Stonemover had passed by, and a SkyWing that Griffin unfortunately recognized. That was the third of the animuses that had escaped. Griffin took a step back, bumping into Stonemover. He glanced behind the four dragons in the tunnel. The strangely colored dragon was peering in from where it intersected with the main tunnel, curious about the commotion, but Gazelle was nowhere to be seen. This was really not good.
"What's going on?" Goanna asked, standing up from her scroll. "I was just having a conversation with our new NightWing friend."
The SeaWing pointed a talon at Griffin. "He works with that SeaWing," he snarled. "The one who made us use the cursed diamonds and get stuck in this place to begin with."
Stonemover took a step back in fear. "Please don't bother him," he quietly pleaded.
In response, he received a shove into the wall from Goanna, causing him to clench up in fear. "He helped kill my father," Goanna seethed in rage, spit dripping from her teeth onto Stonemover. She turned back to Griffin, who had backed up a bit further, trying to place all of the dragons within his view. "Can I kill him?" Goanna asked.
The SkyWing shook her head. "Erosion wants him alive," she snorted, "but I doubt she'd be too angry as long as he's not dead."
Goanna grinned, flicking her barbed tail into the air and stretching out her claws. "How 'not dead' do you mean?"
Griffin took another step back as Goanna, the SeaWing, and the SkyWing started to close in on him, leaving Stonemover, the two MudWings, and the strangely colored dragon by the entrance of the tunnel. Suddenly, the SeaWing rushed forward, webbed paws outstretched. Griffin scrambled back as the SeaWing ran towards him, attempting to grab Griffin with his claws.
As he hit against the back of the wall, Griffin reached out his talons and dived beneath the SeaWing, ripping across the SeaWing's gills in streaks of red. The SeaWing roared in pain, and tried to turn around, pinning Griffin's tail down with a paw as Griffin attempted to run beneath his leg. Realizing that he was caught, Griffin twisted around, attempting to pull his tail out as he clawed beneath the SeaWing's wings, ripping through a tendon. The SeaWing reared back in agony, letting Griffin's tail free.
Suddenly, Griffin let out a scream of pain as something sharp stabbed into his side. He swiveled his head around to see Goanna smirking as she ripped her barbed tail from Griffin's back leg in a mess of blood and feathers. As Griffin took a step away, feeling the world around start to go dizzy, the SeaWing slammed a paw down on Griffin's neck.
"That was for my father," Goanna hissed, anger dripping from her voice.
One of the two young MudWings glared at Goanna, still watching from the tunnel. "I thought you weren't going to kill him," the MudWing muttered. "Erosion is going to be sooo angry. You're gonna get in trouble."
"Quiet," Goanna growled, turning to the MudWing, "or you'll be next."
The MudWing who spoke took a step back in alarm. Their sib frowned, and suggested, "Erosion might have Brightsting Cactus somewhere, and if she doesn't, she can probably get some. Or just use Goanna's magic to heal him."
Goanna's scales stood on edge, and turned her head back to Griffin. "I'll make sure she doesn't have to."
"Please stop!" Stonemover pleaded, taking a small step towards Goanna. The SandWing slashed her barb in the air, inches away from Stonemover's snout, causing him to jump backwards.
"Just leave it," the strangely colored dragon whispered solemnly to Stonemover, "there's nothing you can do to stop them."
Griffin yelled as the SeaWing dug his talons along Griffin's neck, pulling out feathers and drawing blood. "If I had my magic, I could do much worse to you," the SeaWing threatened, "but thanks to you, I don't." Wrapping his claws around Griffin's head, he slammed it into the ground below.
"Give me a turn," the SkyWing snorted. She breathed out a puff of smoke. "Maybe I'll set his wings on fire. That would be pretty painful, right?" She shoved Goanna aside, walking around to Griffin's left wing. Griffin attempted to flap it and get up in despair, but the SeaWing held his paws on Griffin's neck, preventing much movement. Things were starting to get black for Griffin now, his vision blurring.
The SkyWing tried to grab Griffin's wing with her claws, but his wing claw scraped against her scales as he struggled, drawing a slight trickle of blood. "You'll pay for that," she growled.
Her claws moving too fast for Griffin to see in his quickly blurring vision, she wrapped them around Griffin's wing, holding it in one place against his body, and the other at the far end of the wing. She brought the second claw back with sudden force, the snapping of thin bones sounding throughout the cavern.