Broken Wings - a FoxFlake story

Chapter Two

Three days.

Three. Days.

THREE. WHOLE DAYS.

Snowfox slapped her tail on the ground impatiently. "THREE DAYS!" She growled. She had been sulking for several hours now, and surprisingly, nothing had changed. Finally, Fox decided that she was not helping the matter. She sighed and stood up, shaking snow off her wings.

"Erm, Princess?"

She whipped around, snarling, but stopped when she saw only a young, fidgety IceWing standing nervously behind her. "Oh, hello," she said, smoothing her crest. This was a second circle dragon, so she didn't feel inclined to give a heartfelt apology.

He was pale, chilly blue, darker along his spine. His wings were pure, snowy white, and his horns were draped in silver and blue chains.

"I'm sorry," he said, bowing, which pleased her. "I just cannot help but notice, you seem upset."

She was about to snap, "No kidding, Genius," but stopped with her jaw open. This dragon—he was—he was—

Pulling a scroll out of thin air.

Fox collected herself. "Who gave you that?" She asked sharply. "An animus-touched scroll? Who would betray their tribe to create a spell as silly as a scroll you can turn invisible?"

The IceWing looked like he was regretting this. "Please, don't go yet," he begged. He unrolled the scroll and beckoned her closer.

She hesitated, but curiosity drew her nearer. Looking over his shoulder, she saw that it was a map. At first, it looked like an ordinary map of Pyrrhia, but when she looked closer, Fox could see two tiny dots—a pale blue one and a black one—that were moving towards the Night Kingdom.

"Arctic and Foeslayer," she realized slowly. Fox chose her words carefully, this dragonet was clearly more powerful than he let on. "You're... an animus."

He winced. "Please, please, don't tell anyone. I can help you if you don't tell."

"What's you name? You don't... I haven't seen you at the royal meetings," said Fox.

"I'm Tanzanite," he said. "I was... friends, more or less, with Arctic when we were younger. He started to grow distant over the last few weeks, and when I figured out why..." Tanzanite clenched his fist, crinkling the map. "When I figured out that he was falling for a NightWing, I started to use my magic."

"You're not royal, though," repeated Fox. "How do you have magic?"

He blew out air through his nostrils and closed his eyes. "I am only telling you because I believe we can work together," he clarified. "I am half SandWing, but my mother was disguised as an IceWing when she had my egg. I inherited my animus gene from her."

Fox considered this. On the one talon, an animus who was willing to work for them? Sweet! She imagined all the great revenge they could get on Arctic and Foeslayer. 

On the other talon, she didn't fully trust this dragonet. He was willing to betray his whole tribe, break the animus tradition, just so he could get back at his old friend. Who knew if he would also turn on Fox?

But on the third talon... he might be able to heal Snowflake's wing, and that would mean the world to Fox.

Then, on the fourth talon, Tanzanite was technically a hybrid. A SandWing hybrid, no less. The history between SandWings and IceWings was less than friendly.

Fox met Tanzanite's strange amber eyes. "If we work together," she said, "can we both swear to never tell anybody, never betray each other, and most importantly, make Arctic's life miserable?"

Tanzanite smiled, and she detected a layer of cold hatred underneath his calm manor. "Of course. So, what do you think about it?"

After just a moments hesitation, she said, "I'm in."