A Drop of Venom

Chapter 8

When he woke up Deep-Sting was sitting next to him looking at him worriedly. He groaned and sat up, head aching from the lack of oxygen moments before.

"Oh thank the moons..." She muttered as he sat up.

"I feel like I fell off a cliff..." he groaned.

"You're awake so now we can talk."

"You don't seem mad about me being an Animus..." Death-Spine commented.

"I've known for a while now." she said.

"How long?!" Death-Spine exclaimed, startled.

"Since your little outburst after we nearly died the first time under this cursed mountain."

"I guess I was a bit obvious then..."

"Obvious? You were practically shouting 'hey look at me! I'm a magical Animus!"

"Why aren't you mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you for being something you didn't ask to be?"

"What about the Animus that transformed you?"

"They made the choice to be evil. They had the option to just leave me and my family alone but instead he killed us." Deep-Sting growled quietly.

"But, you're not dead." Death-Spine said confused.

"Deep-Sea is..." she said, looking away.

He hesitantly reached out a hand and placed it on her shoulder to try and comfort her. She didn't shrug it off or snap at him to keep his talons to himself. He actually felt her relax a bit.

"Anyways... While you were napping I found a mine-rail that looks like it goes somewhere important." She said, regaining her usual serious attitude.

"I wasn't napping!" he argued.

"We should also do something about the dragons you enchanted." she said, ignoring the comment.

"I know, I'll release them but only if they pledge their allegiance to Queen Thorn and swear not to harm us or interfere with our mission."

She nodded.

"That'll have to do."

He walked over to the frozen dragons and stopped in front of the one that appeared to be the leader.

"Listen, I'll free you all from both my enchantment and your leader's enchantment but only if you agree to my terms. Blink if you are willing to listen."

The dragons all blinked frantically and Death-Spine smiled to himself.

"Alright, first of all you all must pledge your allegiance to Queen Thorn, second you must not harm us, and finally you are not allowed to interfere with our mission." Death-Spine said.

"Blink again if you agree to these terms."

They seemed to hesitate for a moment but they all blinked again. Death-Spine nodded and closed his eyes.

"I enchant these dragons to be freed from any enchantments placed on them so long as they follow the agreements we have made." He said.

The dragons started moving again and stretching. The leader of the group came up to him. Death-Spine recognized him as the dragon he had tried to kill.

"Thank you. You must understand, we did not have any choice other than to attack. We will always remember how you saved us. If there's anything we can do let us know." they said.

"We do need something actually, We need to know the name of the dragon behind all this." Deep-Sting said, walking up next to Death-Spine.

"His name is Lionfish... a horrible dragon... Some say he's been around since Pyrrhia was created, others claim he's a dragon only kept alive by the thirst for blood. All I know for sure is that he is not to be crossed. Once you encounter him you'll never be the same again..." the SandWing said darkly.

"Well he won't be alive by the time we're done with him." Death-Spine promised.

"Now get out of here and go tell Queen Thorn that her Assassin and Spy are nearly done with the mission." Deep-Sting said.

The dragon nodded and led the others out of the cavern. Deep-Sting grabbed a lantern from one of the crates and lit it with her fire. Death-Spine did the same before following her down the dark tunnel towards whatever lay ahead.

Hi! I hope you guys like this chapter! Deep-Sting is READY to kill Lionfish and she doesn't even know what's coming...

Clucky out!