Young Writers Society

The next few hours were agonizingly slow for Zoltar. The two Ice Talons had drifted off to sleep soon after the conversation ended, their soft snores barely audible over the rage of the storm outside.

Zoltar had tried to go to sleep. He needed it after all, with the long walk and flight out of the Ice Kingdom tomorrow. Sleep never came however.

The cold was ever present, slowly working its way deeper into his chest. His scales had gone numb over the last few hours and he was beginning to lose feeling in his talons. Zoltar worried that his wings would go next. If that happened, there’d be no way he could fly. He’d be doomed.

He shifted, extending his wings in and out in the hope that it would slow down the numb feeling marching across his back. He’d been repeating this action every few minutes for the last two hours. It seemed to be slowing the effects, but hadn’t stopped it. He needed to get out of here.

The storm showed little sign of calming down. It was still screaming overhead with as much fury as it had hours ago. Zoltar knew winter blizzards like these could last for days. He didn’t have that long.

Still there was nothing he could do until the sun rose. They’d agreed to wait until then.

Some of the sunlight should be able to penetrate though this? Zoltar swallowed the lump building in his throat and spread his wings again.

He knew Shriken was supposed to lead, but things might not improve with the light of day. He may need to ask Shriken for instructions so that he could guide them through the rest of the caverns instead. So long as he was in front and showing the way, the two Ice Talons should be able to feel their way through the caves behind him. At least he hoped they could.

The other option was for Shriken to give him directions and they stay behind to wait out the storm while he carried on. The thought of that didn’t exactly thrill him, but it might be his only option. Shriken may not agree to traveling blind, instead vouching to wait out the blizzard. If that happened, Zoltar would have no choice, but to carry on alone. He just couldn’t wait any longer.

…

The next morning Zoltar woke to someone gently stroking his wings. He opened his eyes with a groan. How long had he been asleep for? The last thing he could remember was staring at the cave entrance while flexing is wings. He must have fallen unconscious after that.

He looked up to see Felistia standing over him, brushing her wing over his back.

“Hey,” she whispered, stepping back, “How are you feeling?”

“Not so good, I’m afraid,” Zoltar tried to get to his feet, wincing at the prickly feeling invading his legs. He faltered for a moment, the numb sensation causing him to misjudge the placement of his paws. Felistia stepped closer and he managed to right himself with her support.

“I can see,” Felistia stayed beside him while he shook each of his paws, trying to get some feeling back in them.

Zoltar could hear that she was worried, despite her trying to hide it, “It’s okay. I’ll be fine so long as I get across the border by tonight.”

He tried to sound confident, but deep inside he was terrified. Even if he did make it out of here in time, his fire may never come back. He’d heard of other fire breathers losing their flame like this. It wasn’t exactly uncommon, especially after spending more than five days in this freezing weather.

“Shriken says we should leave now. There’s been a mild break in the storm, but it might not last. We should try to reach the end of the glacier before it get worse.”

Zoltar nodded, stretching his wings again. Thankfully they hadn’t gone numb yet, though the unnerving tingling feeling was starting to creep along the webbing.

“Morning,” Shriken said, walking over to him and Felistia, “Ready to go?”

“Yes,” Zoltar said, watching the Ice Talon. He seemed to have regathered himself after last night’s talk. Just as well. They needed him to guide them through the rest of the territory and he wouldn’t have been able to if he was still moping over Felistia’s decision.

As he followed Shriken and Felistia back into the ravine, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the wind had stopped roaring through the cavern, instead replaced by a minor breeze. It was still quite dark, but there was enough light penetrating through the swirling clouds over head to allow the two Ice Talons to move freely.

He on the other paw struggled to keep up. His feet didn’t land where he wanted them and kept causing him to stumble, scraping his scales against the jagged walls each time.

…

It felt like they’d been walking for hours when finally the chasm began to shallow, the floor tilting upwards as the path widened.

Zoltar couldn’t help, but breathe a sigh of relief. His sides ached and even through the dead feeling in his paws he could feel a dull pain radiating through them. He’d avoided tearing a talon so far, but had lost a few scales.

“Almost there,” Felistia called from up ahead.

Their heads were almost above the sides of the rift now. In front, Zoltar could see a wide open expanse, snow coated grass growing in patches throughout the landscape. They were almost over the border. Only a few hours of flight stood between him and the outskirts of the dead forest where he’d left Emerald and Shiraku.

“Keep your heads down,” Shriken hissed, waving a wing at them, “There’s something up there.”

Zoltar crouched alongside Felistia as Shriken poked his head over the side. He ducked back down with a snarl.

“What is it?” Felistia asked, stalking up to her brother.

“Drilvers. Wild ones I think,” Shriken growled, “If we take off from here, we should be able to avoid them.”

He glanced over at Zoltar, “Do you think you can get into the air without a running start?”

Zoltar nodded, fighting the panic gripping his chest. What choice did he have? It was either fly or risk fighting the Drilvers, the second of which he knew would kill him. He just hoped they weren’t the Queens Drilvers. That was the last thing he needed.

Felistia gave him an encouraging nudge on the shoulder, “You’ll do fine. Just head straight up. We’ll be right behind to cover you if you need it.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Zoltar spread his wings and leapt into the sky.

For a heart wrenching second he over balanced to the left, but with a quick right swing of his tail he righted himself. Flapping his wings he managed to gain some height. It might not be the most elegant take off he’d ever had, but at least he was in the air.

Behind him he could hear Felistia and Shriken’s wing beats as they caught up to him. Soon they were many dragons lengths above the ground, riding the air currents up.

Scanning the ground below he saw the Drilvers glanced up at them, but they didn’t react. Shriken had been right. They were wild, not the Queen’s trained pack.

Zoltar exhaled. They’d gotten away.

Banking north, they soared through the thinning cloud cover. It looked like the storm was dying off, much to Zoltar’s relief. He was managing to stay aloft in this somewhat calm weather with his wings, but he wasn’t sure how he’d handle a blizzard.

It doesn’t matter now. Soon he’d be out of this awful frozen wilderness and back in his normal environment, warm and safe from crazy Ice Talon queens. The most dangerous part of the mission was over. Now all he had to do was some obsidian and ask Emerald for one of her scales. Shouldn’t be too hard.

He couldn’t wait to see Emerald again. He’d even begun to miss Shiraku, though he wasn’t sure he’d admit it to her. He could help, but smile at the thought.

Soon, he thought, soon we’ll all be together again and everything will be okay.