Polar quickly scanned down the length of a scroll. Random SandWing general, random NightWing prince, blah, blah, blah. He wasn't so plebeian as to discount the historical significance of any scroll, but this one didn't seem to be of much use. He didn't need a paraphrase of every letter any dragon may or may not have written. No, I don't care what Prince Snottysnout ate for breakfast.
Polar gave out an audible sigh, and set the scroll to the side. There had to be a better way to figure out what Crystal was up to than this. It didn't even make any sense what the dragons were doing — looking through scrolls for information on some ancient prophecy? How would that help them, again?
"Useless?" Toxin asked. The young hybrid dragonet peered over at Polar's scroll, before shrugging her wings. "Great. Mine too. But don't worry, we've got plenty more useless scrolls in this library." She waved a wing around to show the plentitude of useless scrolls.
Polar could see. How many would they have to look through before they found something? It had been two days since they'd started, and they hadn't found what they were looking for, whatever that was. Queen Glory had been strangely silent about specifics, but the IceWing couldn't tell if that was just her prickly personality or if she was actually hiding something. Probably both. Well, two could play at that game.
"Why are you even bothering to help?" Toxin asked Polar as the IceWing picked up another scroll. "It doesn't seem to be because you want to spend extra time around mine and Glory's amiable personalities."
Polar flicked his tail, deciding what to and what not to reveal. "It's part of my duty as a First Circle IceWing," he answered. Not that duty is something they teach in the rainforest. "Queen Glacier ordered me many years ago to try and find your assassin." If these dragons were hunting down Crystal, and the first Darkstone with her, he had to keep an eye on them. "She's at the bottom of the Seventh Circle. I'd be celebrated if succeeded." Not that he wouldn't be celebrated already, if he got the Darkstone to work. He could see Queen Glacier's proud gaze on him already. No one would care about what his parents and aunt did anymore. He'd be the first animus in two-thousand years. Chances are, he'd be wed to Princess Snowfall, and could one day even be King. Not that he wanted to marry Princess Snowfall, but he liked the King part. King Polar. It sounded so good in his thoughts.
"I'm surprised that Queen Glacier would give a mission like that to a dragonet," Toxin commented, completely unaware of Polar's royal fantasies.
"It's kind of a personal thing," Polar commented thoughtlessly, still lost in his own head.
"Oh," Toxin said, her usual apathetic tone becoming a slight bit more serious. "My condolences."
"Huh?" Polar asked as he snapped out of thought, confused as to where the conversation had gone. "Condolences for what?"
"Nevermind," Toxin smiled, pulling a scroll from the shelf. She'd assumed a little too much. "You said it was personal, so I thought you meant that the assassin had killed your family or friends, and you were trying to avenge them or something."
The IceWing winced. "Er, not really. It's a bit more complicated than that." This was about honor and blood. Probably not something a dragonet as young as Toxin, especially one who was half-RainWing, could understand. "It's something I need to do to get respect."
Toxin snorted. "That sounds like an awful large responsibility to put on a dragonet. Is this a normal IceWing thing? Forcing them to hunt down regicidal mass murderers as a rite of passage?"
"No, no," Polar laughed. "The Ice Kingdom is tough, but we're not that awful. Just tough enough to make sure our all our dragonets grow up to be strong and loyal. Anyways, I've already done my rite of passage. I'm an adult." He twiddled with the single silver circle around his neck, showing it off proudly as if Toxin would know what meant.
"Clearly," Toxin sarcastically responded. Polar looked to be barely seven or eight at most. Hardly old enough to be confidently calling himself an 'adult.' "Glory told me not to tell this to you, but if you want your search to be useful, you should probably know that I have prophecy powers."
"Oh," Polar said, taken by surprise. A few weeks ago, he'd have thought that she was lying, but Ink had shown him wrong. Queen Glacier would be interested to know. There had been suspicions and rumors in the last couple years, but now the NightWings still having powers was confirmed. "You should probably listen to your queen," Polar suggested. "She's your queen, and likely knows what's best for you." He shook his head in pity. Queen Glory really needed to keep her dragonets in line. Toxin had casually disobeyed direct orders; that wouldn't have happened in the Ice Kingdom.
Toxin rolled her eyes. It's not like NightWing powers were much of a secret anymore. Everyone at Jade Mountain and in the Rainforest knew of Moon. "Yeah, but I'd felt a little bad for you, trying to help us out and all without knowing what we're looking for."
Polar frowned. He didn't particularly like a young dragonet taking pity on him. "Well? What are we looking for?"
Toxin quickly shared with Polar the visions she'd seen of the IceWing assassin and Aurora, then went on to explain what scrolls they had been looking for in the Night Kingdom, and their encounter with Aurora.
Polar considered this for a moment, and sighed. If Toxin was going to explain her secret vision powers to him, the least he could do was tell them a little bit more of what he knew about his aunt. "I doubt it will help, but her name is Crystal."
"Crystal?" Toxin asked, confused. "Whose name?"
"The assassin's," Polar explained. He thought of what else he could share, but nothing came to mind. All of Crystal's possible motives were wrapped up in Project Darkstone. And there was no way he could share that. He instinctively brought a claw to his silver bracelet, checking that it was still there.
"What's that?" Toxin asked as she saw him reach for it.
Polar tensed up in fear. Oops. "It's nothing," he lied. "Just a gift from Queen Glacier for my hard work and services. Why did you ask?"
Toxin suspiciously glanced at the Darkstone. The color was distinctive. "I told you that we came across a hybrid named Aurora, right? She had a necklace with a similar-looking gemstone."
Polar blinked for a moment, his jaw almost dropping. That was the first Darkstone. It had been only a day's flight from here, in the middle of the Queen Glory's kingdom. How could Aurora have gotten it from Crystal?
"What?" Toxin asked, cocking her head. "Why do you look so surprised?"
"Oh, nothing," Polar gulped. He quickly thought up an explanation. "Er, when Crystal fled the Ice Kingdom, she stole some stuff from Queen Glacier's treasury, including a necklace with a similar looking stone in it."
Toxin frowned. "Maybe it's a different one?"
Polar shook his head. "Not possible. There were only two of them made, and the second is with me." He was getting dangerously close to telling Toxin too much information, but he doubted the dragonet would figure out that the Darkstone was more than just cosmetic. But this meant there was some link between Crystal and Aurora. Maybe there was some value in this scroll-reading after all. "Did you catch Aurora after she escaped?"
"I don't know." A dark look crossed the hybrid dragonet's eyes. "If we do, we'll make sure she's put to justice for what she did. Deathbringer's going after her right now."
Polar nodded nervously. Maybe Crystal could wait. If Aurora had the first Darkstone, he needed to make sure he got it back as soon as possible, preferably before Deathbringer. He couldn't say he cared too much for whatever justice the RainWings wanted — from what Toxin had said, it seemed more like they'd attacked Aurora more than the other way around, and she'd just killed her guards while trying to escape. But if Aurora told Deathbringer what it did, Polar was sure the Darkstone would end up in RainWing claws.
"Yeah. If you do catch her, I'm sure Queen Glacier would pay a good amount to get that necklace back. It was one of her favorites." Polar anxiously scratched his tail across the floor. That wasn't too much, was it? It would be bad if Queen Glory thought the necklace had some abnormal value, like if she thought it was animus-touched.
The call of another dragonet suddenly came from across the library. "Hey, everyone!" Tiger shouted. "I think found something!" Afterwards, Tiger looked at Starflight, hearing his sigh of disappointment. She winced. She had broken the most important rule of the library: stay quiet. Never again, she swore to herself.
Polar and Toxin got up, and quickly walked over to where Tiger was examining a scroll. Queen Glory and Mastermind had also moved over to the young RainWing dragonet, expectantly waiting for her discovery.
"I was looking through some of the other Black Scrolls," Tiger explained, holding up another scroll made of the strange black paper. It rolled open, revealing faded gold ink. "I got a little bit caught up in this one. Legends of the Scorching. I think this part is copied from another scroll. It's a story about Princess Frost."
"Queen Frost?" Polar asked, a shiver running down his spines.
Glory turned to the IceWing. "You know her?"
"Of course I do," Polar snorted indignantly. "She's one of the most important figures in IceWing legend. She's the second IceWing queen, and introduced animus magic into the royal bloodline. She set up the whole 'one Gift per animus' system." He glanced around, wondering which of the dragons he was talking to even knew what the Gifts were.
Tiger nodded in understanding. She pointed a talon most of the way down the rolled open scroll, and the four dragons crowded their heads in to read. "The scroll describes Starweaver's death."
"Is it useful?" Queen Glory asked. She'd seen some more stuff on Starweaver, but it didn't seem helpful.
Tiger looked a little uncertain. "Maybe. I don't know. I think it could offer an explanation for the drought, but it seems a little . . . out there. You should read it for yourself."
Tiger set the scroll down on the ground, much to the dismay of the dragons trying to read it, and rolled it a little further open. "The story itself doesn't focus on Queen Frost herself, even though she plays a big part. It's called the Legend of the Seven Animuses. How true it is . . . is up to debate. The commentary says there are a few different versions of it with disputing facts."
Queen Glory rested her eyes on the top of the scroll, slowly reading down it:
The dawn of our age was marked by the events of the Scorching, a massive war between dragons and an invading race of what are now called scavengers. This war took place for over a hundred years, spanning the expanse of two Brightest Nights that roughly marked the beginning and end of the war. Four waves of scavenger invasions took place during this time, the third one almost bringing an end to civilization. Near the end of the third wave, scavengers had almost won with their numbers and weaponry, having taken over West Pyrrhia, including the territories now known as the Ice Kingdom, Sand Kingdom, and Night Kingdom [Translator's note: the Night Kingdom referred to in this legend is currently known as the old Night Kingdom]. As their homes and cities were razed by the invading forces, many of the escaping dragons had fled to Eastern Pyrrhia, the Claws of the Clouds representing a temporary dividing line.
Still, the scavenger forces easily crossed over the mountains, and even with forces from the west, there was little hope for the remaining dragons. Yet, a elderly RainWing named Conifer hatched a daring plan. He claimed to have some sort of arcane powers, now known as animus magic, that he could use to bring certain victory to the dragons, but refused to provide proof of them to his fellow dragons. He was dismissed as a fake. Yet instead of giving up on his plan, Conifer traveled around the remaining dragon enclaves, searching for others like him who were willing to help him in his plan. He chose six more animuses, including himself, one from each of the seven tribes, most of whose names have been lost to time. [Translator's note: a few sources give names for these animuses. I have included a listing of the given names in the endnotes, comparing them to each other. A huge variety of historical confusion has taken place, since one of them appears to have named their (grand?)daughter after themself, who has shown up in various other legends.]
As the scavengers enclosed in around the last dragon settlements, the seven tore out their own eyes, and combined their magic to enchant seven great weapons, called the Seven Eyes. But because of the risk on their souls the magic had, Conifer added in a clause to the combined enchantment that would kill each of the seven animuses. Yet, one, a MudWing known as Calamity, managed to escape this with an enchantment of immortality. Conifer's curse destroyed Calamity's body, but his spirit still remained. Calamity fled north, escaping into the Claws of the Clouds. The Seven Eyes were distributed to seven dragons that Conifer had chosen for their bravery before his death. The introduction of the Seven Eyes finally allowed the united dragons to turn back the tide of battles, forcing the scavengers to scatter and retreat. [See: The Scorching, Third Wave]
After the war, the displaced dragons returned to their homelands, but the casualties were immense, and no one knew if the scavengers would return. The seven dragons who wielded the Eyes, in accordance with Conifer's plans, became queens over their respective domains. Along with the might of the Eyes, the unison of all dragonkind was what allowed the newly formed seven kingdoms to defeat the fourth wave of scavengers, finally putting an end to the Scorching. [See: The Scorching, Fourth Wave] In case the scavengers ever returned, the queens would be able to unite their forces once again.
But while the Scorching was over, Calamity still remained. Not long after the Sky Kingdom had recovered from the war, he attacked the Queen of the SkyWings along with a SkyWing named Ignite, whose scales could burn any dragon who touched them [See: Fireborn/Firescales]. The two took the SkyWing princess hostage, and forced the queen to give Calamity the Eye of Amethyst along with permission to use it, in return for the princess's life.
A few months afterwards, earthquakes started appearing across Pyrrhia at rates unheard of, and it wasn't long before a SkyWing veteran named Falcon realized that the Eye of Amethyst had been used to create similar effects during the war, except on a more localized scale. He sought out three other dragons to aid him on his quest to stop the earthquakes: Starweaver, the first great NightWing prophet; Mica, a MudWing with unburnable scales; and Princess Frost, daughter of the first IceWing queen.
The four confronted Calamity and Ignite north of the Sand Kingdom. Ignite was defeated and killed by Mica, but Mica quickly died due to a fatal wound from the battle. The remaining three dragons found Calamity, and attempted to harm him, but were unable to. Amidst the battle, Starweaver received a vision showing him that the only way to defeat Calamity was to bind him in the body of a living dragon using the blood of an animus. Starweaver tricked Calamity into entering his body, and Falcon, while not an animus himself but the son of one of the animuses who created the Eyes, spilt his blood, sacrificing himself in order to bind Calamity to Starweaver. Princess Frost engulfed Calamity and Starweaver's body in frostbreath, trapping Calamity forever in the prophet's frozen corpse.
The only surviving member of the group, Princess Frost took the Eye of Amethyst and returned it to the SkyWing queen. She eventually challenged her mother to become queen, and introduced animus blood into the IceWing royal family through a marriage with a son of one of the animuses who created the Eyes. Knowing the dangers of animus magic, she forced her daughter never to use her magic albeit once in her life. Eventually, her reign ended after her daughter slew her in a Royal Challenge. Queen Frost was never able to overcome the guilt of being the only one of the four who defeated Calamity that lived, and in accordance with her wishes, was put to rest in the same place her three comrades were. [See: Ancient IceWing Queens]
Glory lifted her head from the scroll. She'd known some of the Scorching history from the readings Webs had given her and the other dragonets, but most recounts of the Scorching were of tenuous validity at best. This one was probably the same. Still, something struck her.
Mastermind gave out an exaggerated 'hmmm' of thought. "Are you sure the names are right?" he questioned. "Prince Calamity was the name of one of Queen Fen's sibs, who was far more recent history. It doesn't seem like a common MudWing name. Unless she named him after this Calamity for whatever reason. Fen was quite a character."
"Maybe he time-travelled with Nightreader," Toxin joked. Maybe it was just a weird coincidence.
Mastermind shook his head. "There are too many eye-witness accounts of the more recent Calamity for that to be possible. There are portraits of him as a dragonet, and his death was . . . very well-known. Although I suppose the manner of death was a strange coincidence."
"Coincidence?" Toxin asked. She knew who Queen Fen was. Some of the NightWing dragonets had mentioned her. The MudWing queen had lived just long enough ago that her history was starting to turn into legend. An animus conqueror, who'd used her magic to support her armies, allowing them to invade the Sea and Ice Kingdoms. She'd only been stopped by her only remaining sib, after she'd killed the rest.
Mastermind nodded. "Prince Calamity placed the MudWings' Eye around Queen Fen's neck in her sleep, the night before they were to begin their attack on the Sand Kingdom. It rejected her, and the two sibs were zapped to oblivion. Much like Blister's own death."
Glory frowned, a faint green starting to circulate beneath her wings. "Something is coming to shake the earth, something is coming to scorch the ground."
The five remained silent for a moment. A cold wind blew through the library, rolling the scroll partially closed. It had been two years since Moon had delivered the Jade Mountain Prophecy, and it still hadn't taken place. Some dragons had even forgotten about it. But its warning of doom still rang throughout Queen Glory's ears. The Jade Winglet had managed to find the Lost City of Night a year ago in Darkstalker's Teeth after a bit of pawing through scrolls and a suggestion from Winter (technically, a suggestion not to go there), but all they had found were ruins. No one knew whether or not that was all that was needed to avert disaster.
Tiger nodded knowingly, as if the small dragonet had already figured it out. She carefully closed the scroll. "The Eye of Amethyst was used to cause earthquakes across Pyrrhia. It would make sense that the Eye of Onyx could be used to cause drought. Or, so to say, 'scorch the ground'."
"Well, we found the moons-damned city," Glory snapped. "That's all we needed, right?" The queen winced as she saw Tiger's look of alarm. She really needed to stop yelling at dragonets. "Sorry, Tiger."
"Forgiven, your majesty," Tiger said as she bowed her head. "But I suspect that our IceWing assassin killed Queen Thorn and took the Eye of Onyx."
"Crystal," Toxin suddenly spoke up, causing Polar to glance over to her, "the assassin's name is Crystal."
Glory frowned. "How do you know that?"
"I told her," Polar admitted.
The rainforest queen licked her teeth. So the IceWing knew a little more than he'd claimed. She wondered what else he knew, and why he wasn't telling them. "How do you think this Crystal was able to use the Eye of Onyx?" she asked. "I was there to see what happened to Blister. The same should've happened to her. And why would she have caused a drought? That doesn't seem very useful."
Polar shrugged his wings. He had his suspicions. Maybe Crystal could've used the Darkstone to enchant the Eye of Onyx somehow, although maybe not, if Aurora had it. "I don't know," Polar remarked, not giving anything up, "but I do know this. Crystal is pure evil. She doesn't need any motivation to cause a drought, as long as it would hurt dragons." She stole our chance at getting animus magic, Polar thought.
Glory considered this for a moment. Being pure evil didn't seem like a very good reason. "We have a lot here," she decided. They had the cause of their drought. "I'm going to think on this for the night, and decide what to do." Part of her wanted to go off after Crystal herself, but she had no idea where the IceWing assassin would be. She'd told Deathbringer she'd wait for him at Jade Mountain. If Toxin's visions were correct, and Aurora would be here soon, that might give her a clue. And if there was anyone who could help her find an assassin, it was Deathbringer.
The rainforest queen stood up. "Go get some rest," she ordered the four. "We'll meet back here tomorrow." She felt a little bad about having taken Tiger out of classes for so long, but the RainWing dragonet knew these scrolls as well as Mastermind. She was invaluable.
"Thank you all for your help on this," Glory continued. "If there's anything I can do to repay you, let me know." She know that included Mastermind, but maybe it was time to start the NightWing's rehabilitation in society. She winced slightly as she thought of the RainWings dead from his negligence. Or maybe not. She'd have to think that through a bit more carefully, after all this was over.
As the group dispersed, Polar grabbed A Guide to Animus Magic, and headed into the belly of Jade Mountain, trying roughly to follow the same path that he'd gone two days ago. He hadn't practiced with the Darkstone yesterday, and decided that it would be good to see if he could do something more with it. As the IceWing delved deeper into the caves, it quickly became apparent that he was starting to diverge from his previous path. It sloped slightly downwards, and the walls of the tunnel were wet, as if they had been soaked with water. A slight drip fell from the ceiling.
Suddenly, the rocks beneath Polar gave way, and the IceWing tripped, sliding down his belly as the tunnel ahead steepened. He gave out a cry of surprise as he tumbled, before landing in a flat area. He glanced back upwards, to where the tunnel had left him. It was too small to fly back up. Maybe he'd be able to climb. His claws were made for climbing ice after all, a rock wall couldn't be that different.
Polar opened his pouch, the two moon globes in it revealing that nothing had slipped out. He touched a talon to the Darkstone, just to make sure it hadn't popped out of the bracelet. Still there. The IceWing glanced around. He'd dropped the moon globe he'd been carrying in the fall, and it had rolled a short way, until it had been stopped by a stalagmite. The IceWing picked it up, and raised the moon globe in the air, letting it light up his surroundings. The cave he'd been dropped in was huge, agoraphobic. The surface was covered with a field of stalagmites, and it would be difficult to walk through. But it wouldn't be hard to fly. This would be a good place to practice.
Polar took a deep breath, deciding what to try and enchant. Maybe the same thing would be good. He didn't want to wear himself out so much he couldn't get back. The IceWing picked up a small rock from the ground, and placed it in front of him. He then pulled his healing diamond from the pouch, and put it in his left paw. The injuries where the diamond had cut it had healed up quickly, probably due to the enchanted healer itself. That was fortunate. He set the moon globe to the side.
Polar laid himself down, and locked his eyes on the stone in front of him. He moved a few of his claws to the Darkstone, already feeling his scales beneath it ache and burn. He breathed in and out, steadying his breath. It was time. "I enchant this rock to lift up off the ground one talon-length for the next minute."
Polar winced as he felt the pain in his arm, and dizziness started to overcome him. The scales beneath the Darkstone felt like they were melting, and the IceWing gritted his teeth, clenching harder onto the Diamond Healer. Breathe, Polar, breathe. He focused his eyes on the stone, managing to keep himself from falling this time. The pebble slowly started to rise into the air, until it was just above the ground.
Polar stared at it for a few seconds. He'd been uncertain if the enchantment had worked last time. This confirmed it. He could use animus magic. The IceWing slowly reached out a talon, and prodded the stone. It started to turn midair. With nothing but air to stop it, it kept rotating. Polar couldn't tear his eyes away from it. He'd done that. Magic.
Suddenly, the rock dropped the ground, making a clattering that echoed through the cavern. A brief thought came over Polar. What else could he do with magic? So much was open to him now, he barely knew where to begin. The IceWing lifted himself up a bit, and took a step forward, before collapsing to the ground, his left foreleg in pain. Maybe he was getting a bit ahead of himself. If getting a pebble to float took a toll on his body, trying to do two enchantments in one day would be disastrous. And using magic liberally — that wasn't the IceWing way. Tradition dictated that an IceWing animus could only use magic once in their life, for a selfless Gift to the kingdom. It's how they avoided Albatrosses, Darkstalkers, and Fens. Polar had already used it twice, but that was a special circumstance. He wasn't a natural-born animus. He needed to learn how to use it from the Darkstone, and that required practice.
Polar got back to his paws, steadying them as they shook. Limping with his left foreleg, he picked up the moon globe. A glimmer of light from across the dark cave suddenly caught his eye. Polar frowned. Was someone there? What if someone had seen him? He quickly doused the moon globe, hiding in his pouch. The cave went pitch black as the IceWing's eyes adjusted. But suddenly, glimmers of colorful began of all hues to appear all around the cavern, small flickers. The cavern ceiling lit up like a field of stars. The IceWing looked around, amazed that he'd missed this. He turned to the stalagmite next to him. He could see now that it covered in small glittering gems. He touched a talon to a bright green one, and it seemed to flicker in response.
After the sense of amazement in his view faded, Polar pulled out the moon globe again, the light causing the colorful gems to go dark again. He looked up to the tunnel he had slid down. His legs were still shaking from his use of the Darkstone. Maybe there was a better way out. A quick scan around the area revealed another thin tunnel, going upwards. That could lead to the surface. If it didn't, Polar could always come back here, he just needed to make sure he remembered his path. Walking around the stalagmites on the ground, Polar headed up the tunnel.
The tunnel seemed to go almost straight up. While there were a few small passages leading away from it, none of them were near big enough for a dragon to enter, leaving only the one path for Polar. As he got closer to the surface, the tunnel eventually started to open up. Polar breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a lit torch on the wall of the cavern. He'd found his way out. He looked around, trying to figure out where in the school he was. There were a few passages leading out of the room, but no clear indication which one led back to the main caves.
Suddenly, a scratching sound came from the cave wall near the torch. The scratching of claws. Polar whipped around, lifting up his tail, ready to plant the spikes on its end into any intruder. He bared back his teeth, preparing a blast of frostbreath. The wall started to move, the outline of a stone grey dragon visible against it. The dragon opened his crusty eyelids, shaking off a thin layer of stone and dirt. He turned his head slowly towards Polar, looking like the movement pained him.
"Who are you?" Polar growled hostilely. This was a NightWing, and too old to be one of the students. He took a step back, fear in his eyes. He knew there were stories about where the Darkstalker had died. Buried beneath Agate Mountain . . . this couldn't be . . . had Polar's meddling with animus magic somehow awakened him?
"Are you lost?" the NightWing croaked, his voice rough and quiet.
Polar shuddered, covering himself with his wings. "N-no," he stammered.
"Ah. Have you come to see me? I don't get many visitors these days. Sunny comes now and again, but few others."
Sunny? Polar wondered. She couldn't be in cahoots with the Darkstalker, could she? Had he put her under some sort of spell? "A-are you . . .?"
The NightWing's expression stayed tired and blank. "I'm her father, Stonemover. I live here, if you can call this living." He frowned as he looked Polar up and down. Something seemed off about the IceWing. "Are you a student here?"
Polar breathed a few sigh of reliefs, catching his breath. He'd gotten all worked up for nothing. Just some old NightWing. He shook his head at his cowardice. Imagine, thinking that Queen Sunny would be working with the Darkstalker. Ridiculous.
"No," Polar replied, "just visiting." So the NightWing wasn't a teacher. Did he just live down here? Polar looked a little closer at Stonemover's scales, shining the moon globe on them. They appeared to be covered with a stoney sheen, weighing the dragon down. He wondered if Stonemover could fly, or even move under that. Wait, had this NightWing said he was Sunny's father? Queen Sunny? She was a SandWing, wasn't she?
Stonemover continued to scan the IceWing, his eyes moving to the Darkstone bracelet. He sighed. "I can sense the magic on you. The caves brought you here for a reason, didn't they?"
Polar gulped anxiously, and lost his train of thought. "You can . . . sense the animus magic?" He didn't know that was possible.
"Yes," Stonemover replied, offering no explanation. "You're an animus too?" His eyes slowly moved along Polar, and he carefully eyed the Darkstone.
Polar snarled. "None of your business, NightWing. It's your fault we don't have animus magic in the first place. Your gifts are stolen from us." It was the NightWings' fault that the IceWings had to deal with the Darkstone in the first place.
Stonemover nodded solemnly, and let out another sigh. "We have paid our price for our hubris. I sometimes wonder if it would be better if we behaved like the SkyWings, throwing our animuses off cliffs before we could hatch. Young IceWing, magic is not something to be trifled with. It is a curse, and it will only bring you and everyone around you unhappiness."
"That's not true," Polar retorted. "IceWings used magic for millenia, and everything turned out just fine for us." He held the moon globe in front of him. "I was able to find my way through the caves because of magic. Maybe NightWings can't handle it, but we're able to."
Stonemover shook his head. "I doubt you're told the legends of when IceWing animuses abused their powers. Do you really think bringing animus magic back to the Ice Kingdom will be good for everyone? Or will Queen Glacier misuse it, and just create more war and strife? And if not her, what about her daughters?"
Polar's expression softened. He wasn't sure why, but something about what Stonemover had said struck a chord within him. His own life had been ruled by Queen Glacier's lust for animus magic. Crystal had killed her own father just to take its power for herself. If dragons realized that they could become animuses themselves with the Darkstone, how many would die to get it?
"If I were you, I would throw it into the sea, or the snow, or the heart of a volcano," Stonemover continued. "Somewhere no one can find it. Somewhere it can't hurt anyone."
Alarm suddenly jolted through the IceWing. Stonemover knew about the Darkstone. Polar shook his head. No more treasonous thoughts. This NightWing was manipulating him with words, just like they'd done for millenia. Had Stonemover read his mind?
"How do you know about the Darkstone?" Polar hissed. He flexed his claws quietly. If the NightWing had figured out the IceWings' best-kept secret, he could tell. Polar knew what Queen Glacier would want him to do — kill Stonemover and make sure his mouth was closed, permanently. Especially if Stonemover himself was an animus. Yet, Polar hesitated. He didn't really want to kill this old, seemingly harmless dragon, especially if he was the father of not just one of the school's headmasters, but the new SandWing queen. It would be unprovoked, and poor repayment of Jade Mountain's hospitality. Dishonorable.
"You're not the first dragon I've seen who's carried it," Stonemover answered. He let out a groan, as if the very act of staying awake pained him. "I've seen the evil it can do with my own eyes, many years ago."
Of course. "So you've met Crystal?" Polar asked. That would explain the stone-covered scales. Stonemover remaining alive like this seemed to be a worse fate than death.
Sadness showed through Stonemover's eyes. "I have," he replied quietly. "If you wish to see for yourself, follow the tunnel behind me."
Polar stiffened up. What did Stonemover want him to see? The NightWing offered no further explanation. Polar nodded his head, and slowly walked into the corridor. It sloped upwards, towards the surface. His talons shook as he slowly walked up. What if this was a trap? What if Crystal was at the other end, waiting for him?
As the tunnel levelled off, it grew into a larger cave. A cold blast of mountain air suddenly hit the IceWing's scales. From the outside. He'd reached an exit. He immediately saw where the wind was coming from: a small hole across the outside of the cave, where a few rays of light entered the cavern. Plants had naturally grown up around it, but towards the top of the entrance, what looked like a few carefully woven vines remained. A few stones had been placed in a circle not far from the entrance, as if to make a fireplace.
As Polar turned his head, the motionless figure of a dragon caught his gaze. A NightWing with stone covering her scales — no, not covering. This looked far more thorough than the stone on Stonemover's scales. It appeared as if she'd been turned to stone both inside and out. Her head was lifted up, as if another dragon had been holding it. Her grey eyes looked to the right. Polar followed her stare, but whatever had caught her gaze, it was gone.
Polar walked closer to the NightWing, examining her. He brought a talon up to her neck, feeling it. No movement. Just as he'd suspected, she'd turned fully to stone. He'd seen it before, in the Ice Kingdom. Queen Glacier had a locked room, deep within in the palace, where she'd kept the stone bodies of Crystal's victims during the attacks before Polar's hatching. This looked the same. It had to have been Crystal's clawwork.
As Polar turned back, something caught his eyes behind the NightWing. He leaned his head down to see a small structure of hardened dirt and sand, protected from the wind and rain by the cave. Inside it were the fragments of eggshells. The colors were faded, but he could make out faint tones of blacks and blues. This was a nest. A small glance to the right confirmed his suspicions. The skeleton of a miniature dragon lay across the cavern wall. A newly hatched dragonet.
Polar stood up. Whatever had happened here, Crystal had done it. She'd terrorized Pyrrhia for long enough. Queen Glacier had given Polar a duty, and he'd waited far too long to fulfill it. It was time for Crystal to pay.
Polar slowly walked down the tunnel, back into Stonemover's chambers. He looked at the NightWing with new eyes. He was just as much a victim of Crystal as Polar was. "I'm sorry," he said, offering his condolences, "was she . . . ?"
"Nightreader," Stonemover explained. "My sister."
Polar nodded, sorrowfully. He frowned as a realization came into his mind. Ink had mentioned that he'd come to Jade Mountain to visit his uncle. He said that his parents had been killed. And there'd been faint tones of blue on the eggshells in the nest. "You don't happen to have a nephew named Ink, do you?"
Stonemover thought for a moment, as if he was trying to remember. "I did."
"Huh," Polar mused. He wondered why Ink hadn't yet talked to Stonemover, if he was coming to visit. Did Stonemover think Ink was dead? If he did, it wasn't his business to get involved in.
Stonemover had said he was Queen Sunny's father, hadn't he? That meant Queen Sunny was half-NightWing. And it meant that Queen Thorn had been Stonemover's mate at one point. Polar wondered if Stonemover already knew about her death. It sounded like he hadn't seen anyone down here for a while, so Polar doubted it. He considered telling him, but decided not to. Maybe he'd remind Tsunami, it would probably be better if Stonemover heard the news from someone he knew better.
"Er, you don't happen to know the way back to the academy, do you?" Polar asked.
Stonemover thought for a moment, and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I've never been. But there's an exit in the cave I showed you, you should be able to fly around the mountain to see the main entrance."
Polar sighed. That was what he was afraid of. He wasn't particularly keen on seeing the grizzly scene again. "Alright, thank you for everything."
Stonemover looked at him with a confused expression, wondering what Polar was thanking him for. He looked at Polar pleadingly as the IceWing started to leave. "Please, young IceWing, consider what I said. If Queen Glacier, or any other queen, gets the power of animus magic, it could spell doom for all of Pyrrhia. Believe me. There are fates far worse than death."