Young Writers Society

Zoltar stared up into the sparkling heavens, studying the swirling cobalt galaxies and deep iris purple cosmoses. The night air was as sharp as steel and bitterly cold. Zoltar tucked his snout under his wing, hoping it would fight off the icy wind battering against his scales. It provided little comfort. Sighing, he tried to drift off to sleep, but his thoughts kept spinning around and around in his head.

Felistia’s soft snores vibrated through his body as he burrowed in closer for warmth. He was careful not to get to close to Shiraku, whose claws were twitching like mad. Her eyes trembled as she slept and every now and then she would let out an indignant snarl.

Zoltar forced himself to slow his thinking and forget the doubts and fears preventing him from resting. Felistia and the rest had been asleep for over three hours already and by now the two moons had rising high into the dark sky, their silver light glittering off the snowflakes drifting through the air.

Try as he might though Zoltar couldn’t fall asleep. He had too much on his mind. He needed to talk to Felistia. He was dreading the discussion. How was he going to bring it up without hurting her feelings? That wasn’t only one problem though. He still had to tell Emerald and Shiraku that they were staying behind. Heaven knows how that would go down and on top of that he still had to venture into the Ice Talon Kingdom alone. How was he going to do this on his own? Terrible claws of stress raked at his stomach. This was all so hard.

Sighing he got to his feet. No need to wake the others with his tossing and turning.

‘Maybe a midnight flight would help me go to sleep?’ He thought as he extended his wings and lifted into the frigid night air. He still had half a day’s flight tomorrow to reach the border and after that who knew when he’d get to sleep again.

Dipping into a large arc, Zoltar dived towards the glittering Lake of Whispers below. Maybe staring out into nothingness would help calm his nerves, after all he had done this many an hour in the Shadow Lands when he was feeling scared, gazing up at the never ending ash clouds spewing from the volcano.

Zoltar gently landed, the frost covered grass surrounding the lake cracking under his paws like glass. He sat down on the edge of the bank, his tail wrapped around his legs as he stared out over the frozen water. The star light shimmered over the imperfect sheet of ice and freezing cold winds howled over its surface.

The howling wind reminded Zoltar of the Ghost Talons wailing cries back in the Forbidden Hills. A tingle of fear ran down Zoltar's spine, causing him to shiver uncontrollably for a few seconds. He had to succeed in this mission. His life and the Shadow Talons lives depended upon it. He needed to get the Ruby of Fire to the Ghost Talons before winter set into the Shadow Lands. It was only few short months away and they were already well into autumn. Who knew what they’d do to his tribe if he failed. The Shadow Talons were helpless.

This wasn’t helping his nerves. Sighing he gazed up at the empty blue expanse above him. He’d done fine so far. After all he hadn’t planned to do this mission with the help of other dragons. He’d just have to trust that he’d be able to do the rest on his own.

His thoughts were disturbed by the faint rustle of wingbeats above him. Bearing his teeth in defence, Zoltar spun around, ready to shot a fire ball at the threat.

He was surprised to see Emerald land just a few meters from him, her scales flashing bright red and white as she yelled, “Wait Zoltar. It’s me.”

Zoltar relaxed, folding in his wings as he sat down again, he tail curled over his talons, “What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep.”

“I was, but I woke when I heard you fly off. I was worried so I followed you,” Emerald said, curling up next to him for warmth, “What’s the matter. You obviously have something on your mind?”

“Oh, just stuff.”

“Mmm hmm,” Emerald arched her eye crest and gave him a light swat with her tail, “Come on. Tell me. You’ll feel better after talking about it.”

Zoltar smiled and sighed, “Okay fine. You see the next part of the mission involves me going into the Ice Talon Kingdom alone.”

“Alone!” Emerald blurted, “That’s a terrible idea.”

“I know, but I don’t have much choice. You and Shiraku can’t come with me. You’ll freeze. You’ll have to stay here a few days.”

“True. I had thought about that, but why can’t Felistia go with you? She’s an Ice Talon,” Emerald asked, her scales shifting to light blue and white.

“That was what I was hoping, but last night on the beach after you’d gone to sleep, she told me that she was going to go her own separate way. I can’t ask her to help me now,” Zoltar sighed again as he rubbed the aching spot between his horns, “So that’s my issue. Bit of a problem, yes?”

“Yah. No wonder you were so quiet on the flight here,” Emerald wrapped one of her wings over his back, cutting off the frigid wind billowing across the lake.

After a few moments she said, “You know, Felistia seems to like you. You might find that she’ll be more helpful than you think. Just because she won’t come with you doesn’t mean she won’t tell you a few things that could help. It’s worth a try. If she’s known you as long as I have, I’m sure she’d be glad to help. Just think about it.”

“I guess you’re right. I’ll think about.” Emerald smiled at him, filling him with the first warmth he’d felt in a while.

“Good. Now come on. You need some rest if you’re to succeed at anything tomorrow.”

…

The blizzard howled, tugging at Zoltar’s wings like a pack of wild wolves as he fought to make his way towards the shadowy figure of the Ice Talon Palace ahead. Digging his claws into the hard icy ground he slowly inched forward, squeezing his eyes shut to block out the jagged shards of snow spiking through the air.

Suddenly the shape of the palace disappeared in a sudden burst of white snow, leaving swirling nothingness. Zoltar whirled in a panic, 'Where had it gone?' He needed to save Emerald and Shiraku. They could die of hypothermia if they were trapped in the Ice Talon Prison. He had to rescue them.

Out of nowhere a silver bullet slammed him to the ground, making his head spin as it hit the hard ice.

Growling, Zoltar rolled away from his attacker and jumped to his paws, extending his ebony wings to full height, so that they billowed in the wind like the sails of a ghost ship. He stopped in surprise. Felistia was standing in front of him, her dagger like teeth bared and her spiked tail lashing violently.

“What are you doing?” Zoltar asked bewildered, still poised to attack if Felistia tried anything.

“I will not let you steal an Ice Diamond. It belongs to my people, not a scum sucking Shadow Talon like you,” Felistia snarled in a cold voice full of anguish.

“But you were banished … you hate the queen. Why are you doing this?” Zoltar pleaded, his head whirling.

“The queen will reward me well for bringing in a potential threat, maybe even allow me back my place in the tribe,” Felistia growled, baring her sharp, white teeth in an evil smile.

“I thought you were my friend,” Zoltar hissed angrily, raising his barbed tail, ready to strike her down. He glared at Felistia, pain burning in his amethyst eyes and like the faint whisper of a frozen lake he hissed, “But I guess you are just like any other dragon that’s ever hurt me. I should have known better.”

Felistia smirked and with a fearsome roar she lunched towards Zoltar, her immense wings spread.

Zoltar leapt to the side and stabbed out violently with his barbed tail. The poisonous barb missed by a few centimetres as Felistia rolled to the left, jumped up and sent a burst of blue ice breath at him.

Zoltar dropped to the ground, throwing his obsidian wings over his head as the stream of ice charged over his back spikes. Roaring in pain he lashed out blindly with his dagger like claws. He struck the Felistia on her long tail, leaving a bleeding gash. The Ice Talon snarled, springing back from Zoltar’s talons. She twisted her tail round to inspect the slash. Bright red blood streamed from the gash.

“I am going to make you pay for that Shadow Talon,” Felistia hissed, her voice loaded with toxic venom, “I don’t need you alive for me to claim my reward.”

“How could you Felistia? I trusted you and this is how you repay me? I could have left you on that island to be killed, but I didn’t,” Zoltar cried, ducking Felistia’s violent swipes.

“Things change. You know other dragon tribes can’t be trusted and this is what you get for being so naïve. I mean seriously! Wisp Talons and Shadow Talons living together? What world are you living in?” Felistia barked, tripping Zoltar with her tail.

“I wanted a better world, one where dragons don’t fight against other dragons,” Zoltar roared as Felistia leapt on top of him, pinning him to the cold ground, “I thought you were different, that I shouldn’t judge because of your tribe. You other dragons are all the same!” Zoltar roared as he fought to keep back the tears, “You are all deceitful snakes with wings.”

“That’s what dragons are,” Felistia hissed as she drew back her head and with a roar of triumph sent a jet of ice breath crashing down on Zoltar’s head.