Wings of Fire: Blood Ties

Chapter Two: Blood

That evening, Caiman's troop returned to their patrol. Moss patrolled alone, and Newt and Quagmire patrolled together.

Caiman opted to patrol with Mosquito again. He had built up the courage to be around her again, after his initial shock of figuring out she was an animus a few hours ago. He wanted to be able to talk to her entirely alone, away from his other siblings, away from the town, away from everyone.

Caiman and Mosquito walked through the forest, mud and wet dirt squelching between their talons as they walked. The trees were taller and thicker here than in the swampy area around their village. There were the sounds of animals in the trees, and the wind rustled the thicker branches creating an orchestra of forest sounds around them.

"Mosquito." Caiman said gravely. She stopped in front of him, turning around to meet his gaze. Her scales were dark brown, almost black, and the brown of her under scales had a reddish tinge to them. She was almost twice his size in both bulk and height, though not quite as big as Quagmire.

"I know you're an animus." He continued. "You have to stop using your power. You'll lose your soul."

Mosquito stared at him blankly for a moment, then smiled. "Animus? What's an animus?"

Caiman rolled his eyes. "I know you know what I'm talking about."

Mosquito chuckled and punched him in the shoulder, which hurt a lot more than it should have. "Lighten up." She said, "Who says the old legends about animus dragons are even true?"

"Almost every animus over the history of Pyrrhia has gone insane and murdered several dragons, unless they imposed strict constraints on the use of their magic. Mosquito, I don't want you to hurt anyone. Even the way you fight in battle it's.... Cruel."

It was Mosquito's turn to roll her eyes. "Come onnnn." She groaned. "They're our enemies. Can't I have a little fun?"

"How is enchanting a dragon to slit her own throat fun."

Mosquito narrowed her eyes at him, "You haven't told anyone about this, have you?"

Caiman paused awkwardly. He had tried, but they hadn't believed him. He wondered how Mosquito would react if she knew. He loved her and trusted her, but a voice in the back of his head told him she was dangerous and might kill him at any moment.

He decided to tell the truth. We both need to tell each other the truth from now on. "I mentioned it to our sibs, but that's it. They didn't believe me anyway. I'll never mention it to them again, I swear. They've probably already forgotten about it, I just freaked out a bit when I first figured it out. They think the war has driven me insane anyway. Just promise me to stop using your power, unless it's life or death. Okay?"

Mosquito nodded solemnly. She used a single claw and cut a line, drawing blood, in the palm of her talon. She gestured for Caiman to do the same. He recognized this as a blood pact.

He slit his own palm, and they grasped each other's bleeding talons. "I swear never to use my power of animus magic until I deem it absolutely necessary." Mosquito said.

"I swear never to tell our siblings or any other dragons about your animus power."

Mosquito whispered something quickly under her breath. Panicked, Caiman yanked his talons away. "What was that?" He asked, alarmed. It looked like she had been casting a spell.

"Nothing!" Mosquito yelled, grinning and laughing. "I was just trying to mess with you. Do you really think I'd cast a spell on you or something? Why would I want to hurt my favourite little brother?"

"I'm barely younger than you." Caiman grumbled with annoyance.

They spent the rest of their patrol laughing and teasing each other, and talking about anything other than animus magic, but there was still a part of Caiman's mind that wondered:

Did Mosquito just enchant me?