As Griffin opened an eye, he winced in pain, shutting it again. His wing and leg ached, sending out sharp pains. He just wanted to go back to sleep again.
It took Griffin a moment to remember where he was, and what had happened. Erosion's island. He'd been attacked by three of the animuses there. One had stabbed his leg with a barb. Griffin could definitely feel that, the pain of the poison throughout his leg made it difficult to move. And another had broken his wing.
Griffin gulped, not wanting to see what had happened to it. He could feel the ache, but as long as it didn't move, it was bearable. How bad was the break? A barb wound, that was almost normal. It didn't feel good, and Griffin guessed that the poison would be more likely to kill him than a broken wing. But it was different. If Griffin survived, would he ever be able to fly again? He hoped so. He thought wing bones healed for dragons, but wasn't quite sure for himself. The healing diamond that Crystal had created would've come in handy right now, but unfortunately, no one had seen her in years. Griffin still blamed himself for that — if he hadn't come back, if he hadn't reacted the way he did, maybe she'd still be with Torrent. Well, it wasn't as if the diamond was that reliable anyways.
Griffin tried to move his left wing slightly, but yelped out as pain ripped through it. He finally opened his eyes, and swiveled his head to the side to look. He could see a few pieces of wood stretched upon the mess of his wing, holding it place. Layers of cloth were wrapped beneath and around splints, with more cloth holding his wing against the rest of his body. Griffin pecked at one of the pieces of cloth with his beak, then twisted his head around to look at his leg. Bandages were wrapped around it, and unlike the uncomfortably dry bandages on his wing, these were wet, although the smokey air of the island seemed to be quickly drying it out. They had a slightly pungent smell to them. A matted mess of blood and feathers peeked out between the bandages.
Griffin glanced around at his surroundings, careful not to try moving his wing while looking. He was near the entrance to the caverns, somewhat closer to the pool of lava than he'd like. Thick smoke lifted up in the air around him. To his side, Griffin noticed the dried husk of some sort of plant, though he wasn't quite sure what.
Suddenly, Griffin heard clawsteps from the hidden entrance to the caverns, and tensed up, causing more pain in his wing. He gritted his beak together, and tried to relax. It wasn't like he could fight or run in this state anyways.
Gazelle walked out from the small gully, the old SandWing coughing and wheezing as she took a breath of the smoke. She glanced towards Griffin after she was done. "You're awake."
Griffin looked over at her, and let out a sigh of relief. "The splint and bandages . . . ?"
Gazelle nodded. "That was me. I've treated worse. You should heal, in time, although I'll need to get more cactus soon."
"Thank you for this," Griffin replied with gratitude. Gazelle had saved his life. If he had been questioning whose side she was on earlier, Griffin believed he knew now.
"You should be safe here for now," Gazelle comforted him, though she quickly glanced back to the ditch.
"Stonemover?" Griffin asked hurriedly, realizing that the NightWing was still in the caves. What if the animuses went after him?
"He's good enough, much better than you." Gazelle winced. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
"Your fault?"
Gazelle sighed. "Yes. It's my duty to make sure that the animuses don't hurt each other. After Ichthyes attacked you earlier, I should have known better than to leave you alone while he was free."
Ichthyes, Griffin thought, that must be the SeaWing's name. Gazelle was right; what had happened to Griffin was mostly her fault. Yet, Griffin didn't feel angry towards her — she'd cared for him afterwards, and kept him alive. Well, maybe just a little angry, but not that much. "It's alright. What happened after I fell unconscious?"
"Not much. I came in and forced the animuses to stand down. Stonemover wasn't attacked, and I put the three aggressors on the platforms."
Griffin quickly glanced over towards the lake of lava, as if expecting to see the three animuses.
Gazelle shook her head. "They're not there anymore. Erosion is taking the animuses to Crosswinds. She wants me to bring you too."
Griffin looked upwards to the sky. "Did they leave already?"
"There's a portal inside the cave," Gazelle explained. Right. Griffin should have expected that. "Do you think you can walk with my help?" She nervously looked back towards the cavern entrance again.
"Maybe," Griffin said with a frown. He tried to stand, but winced in pain as it shifted his wing. His leg still ached. He didn't think he could put too much pressure on it either. "What are you worried about?"
Gazelle sighed. "Erosion deactivated my control over the animuses for the time being. She wants to make sure I don't interfere in Crosswinds. So I can't prevent them from killing you anymore, which is why I've waited until the last second to take you to Erosion, when they'll all be gone already."
"Alright," Griffin gulped. "So, is it safe now?"
"I think so." Gazelle walked over to Griffin and kneeled down as low to the ground as she could. "Can you climb on me?"
Griffin grasped at her fin with his talons, causing Gazelle to grimace in discomfort. Using it, he pulled himself up onto her back, trying to move his wing and injured leg as little as possible. Gazelle stood up, wheezing heavily, and staggered towards the ditch, carrying Griffin on her.
Suddenly, Gazelle let out a howl of pain, and collapsed to the ground. Griffin rolled to the right, away from his broken wing, and cringed in pain as he instinctively attempted to spread it out to soften his landing. He fell on his back near the edge of Gazelle's wing, the bubbling pool of lava not far from his feathered head. He pulled his tail in, away from the treacherous edge, and attempted to roll to his paws, avoiding the use of his stung leg.
Gazelle yelled again in pain, and Griffin looked over. His eyes opened wide as he saw who had attacked Gazelle. "Nightreader?"
Nightreader gritted her teeth as she her claws plunged deep into Gazelle's tail, pinning it to the barb to that the SandWing couldn't stab her. Gazelle turned her head towards Nightreader, and lunged back, ready to bite at the NightWing, before the feeling of a sharp blade on the back of her neck made her freeze.
"Don't move," Torrent growled, the SeaWing looming over Gazelle, "or your head will hit the ground before your next breath. Your magic is useless now." He turned towards Griffin, and quickly glanced up and down at his injuries. "Should I kill her?"
"What?" Griffin asked, confused. Questions were running through his head. Where had Torrent and Nightreader just come from? Had they been hiding? How had they found the island? "No! Don't hurt her! She's a friend!"
"Ah," Torrent replied with a frown, glancing at the bandaged barb wound on Griffin's leg, then at Gazelle's barb. He hesitated for a moment, before slowly lifting his dagger from Gazelle's neck.
"Please," Gazelle stammered at Nightreader, as blood started to spread across her scales from where Nightreader's claws were stabbed into her tail.
Nightreader frowned, and slowly removed her blood-soaked talons from Gazelle's tail, causing a gush of blood. "Don't try anything," she ordered.
Gazelle squeezed her eyes together in agony, and curled her tail over towards her front paws. With one, she reached into a small satchel at her side and pulled out a cloth bandage meant for Griffin. Gritting her teeth, the elderly SandWing wrapped it tight around her wound, as the cloth quickly stained red.
"Her name is Gazelle," Griffin quickly explained, wincing as he pulled himself away from the ledge. "She's not an animus. You're looking for Erosion. She's the one who gave Magma her powers."
"I know," Torrent answered. He paused for a moment, then walked towards Griffin, relief pouring over his snout. He stretched his wings out to embrace his friend.
"Don't touch the wing!" Griffin stammered, causing Torrent to realize that maybe physical contact would be better later. Griffin curled his beak into a smile. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Me too," Torrent answered. "Nightreader told me you were injured, and I was worried we wouldn't make it in time." Torrent held out his dagger towards Griffin, a talon on the emerald. Griffin noticed it was cracked. That was new.
The tip of the dagger tapped the metal collar on Griffin, and it divided into two parts which fell to the rock below. Although orientated funnily, the feathers beneath Griffin's neck looked clean compared to the rest of his blood-stained body. "Wait, how did she know I was injured?" Griffin asked.
"Long story," Nightreader snarled impatiently. "I'm glad you're having a happy reunion, but where's my brother? You can catch up after I find him."
"Is he the NightWing? He's inside the caves, by the portal," Gazelle quietly whispered, clutching at her bleeding tail. "Erosion is taking him to Crosswinds."
Torrent glanced over to the small gulley where the entrance to the caves was. "This way, I think" he directed her.
Gazelle frowned. "How did you do that?" she asked. "See the entrance. It's enchanted to be invisible."
"Torrent has a dagger which prevents animus magic from affecting him," Griffin quickly explained.
Gazelle opened her eyes wide in understanding. "You're the SeaWing Goanna was talking about?"
"Goanna?" Torrent asked. So she was here. Along with the SeaWing and SkyWing he and Griffin had tried to kill. Well, it wasn't like Torrent didn't know that already. "Probably."
Gazelle nodded, and pointed a talon to the top of Torrent's snout, then to his left gills, where his burn scars ran. She then stretched her head upwards, and pointed the talon to her own scars, running down her neck towards her underbelly.
Torrent snorted. So she'd known Magma too. "Believe me, we got off lightly," he answered, thinking of the scarring Schist had sustained on half his body. His own scales shuddered, just thinking of how painful it must have been. He turned towards Griffin. "Are you coming with us?"
Griffin shook his head. "I don't think I can really walk. I'll stay with Gazelle. I can trust her."
"Let's go," Nightreader hissed impatiently, walking towards the entrance of the tunnels. Torrent walked behind her, the enchantment to hide it fading as he stepped past.
The two hurried down the tunnels, Nightreader knowing Stonemover's life could depend on it. Still, she should have asked for directions. A few side tunnels poked off the the main tunnel, though Nightreader chose to ignore them. The entire area was eerily empty. Although there were signs that other dragons were living down here, there was no one else within sight.
Before long, the two reached the iron doors leading to Erosion's chamber. Nightreader quickly clutched her talons around the door, and tried to pulled one open, revealing the chamber inside. As she did so, a strong gust of wind blew from behind her, almost pushing the two into the room. Torrent looked upwards, at the colorful gemstones dotting the ceiling. He frowned. It reminded him of Darkstalker's caverns. With Crystal.
As the wind from behind slammed the doors shut, Torrent glanced downwards. The scene of speckled lights that Griffin had seen was no longer there, instead, he saw a yellow-brown sandy soil far beneath him, small trees dotting the landscape. Peering his head over the edge, he saw a number of dragons flying in the space between the ground and ledge Torrent was on. Apparently this was the portal, presumably to somewhere near Crosswinds.
"Stonemover!" Nightreader called out. Torrent followed her line of sight across the narrow rock bridge, to Erosion's throne. Three dragons were resting on the small disk of rock floating about the portal, hundreds of feet above the ground far beneath. Along with Stonemover stood Erosion and the SeaWing animus.
Erosion had a surprised look on her snout, though it quickly turned to disgust, as if she had eaten a foul-tasting beetle. "Ichthyes, fly to the rest of the animuses," she ordered, flicking the tip of her tail. The SeaWing, almost mechanically, spread his wings and jumped off the disk, gliding down.
Stonemover glanced over towards Nightreader, and the worried expression on his face turned into a toothy grin at seeing his sister again.
"Are you alright?" Nightreader yelled out, starting across the narrow rock bridge to the floating disk, Torrent following behind her, dagger out.
Stonemover nodded, and started to walk towards her, but quickly stopped with a shudder as he felt the point of Erosion's barb against his throat.
"Don't come closer, and don't try to follow me," the SandWing animus hissed, "or the NightWing dies."
Nightreader stiffened up, and glanced back towards Torrent. "Listen to her," she pleaded, seeing Torrent momentarily flutter his wings, as if aching to fly at Erosion and cut her throat out.
Torrent paused for a moment. If he flew at Erosion now, she'd have no chance of escaping, and if she wasn't bluffing, and ended up killing Stonemover, that would be two animuses dead. It would be a win for everyone, wouldn't it? His gaze fell on Nightreader's worried eyes.
"Don't worry," Torrent sighed, unhappy at the prospect of letting Erosion go. Stonemover might have been an animus, but his powers were gone, and he didn't deserve to die. Nightreader probably would have stopped him anyways if he'd tried to go after Erosion.
Erosion let out a laugh. Wrapping her claws around Stonemover's ribs, she threw herself and him over the edge of the disk, falling into the sky below. As she and Stonemover crossed the boundary of the portal, it disappeared with a flash, causing the bottom of the cave to become plain rock, leaving Torrent and Nightreader peering over the fragile ledge. Once more, Stonemover was gone.