I do not own any characters from Fire Star, Icefire, or The Fire Within. All of those characters from the book are copyright Chris D'Lacey.
The Tale of Eveny and Geisha
By Avalon Ramirez
An Odd Encounter
The Arctic wind blew against Pepin's fur as he trudged his way along the ice trying to find any scrap of food. He looked ahead of him and there was no silhouette of any animal in front of him, so he looked to the left, and then the right. Nothing. He hung his head low in sadness and tried hard to ignore the grumbles coming from his stomach. He knew that there was nothing for him to eat farther off so he turned around to find shelter early but suddenly stopped. His heart pumped with excitement as he saw a large shadow of an animal not to far ahead of him and he began to crouch low to the ground so whatever that thing was, it would be in for a surprise. As he slowly got closer he soon started to wonder what exactly the thing was. The animal was too big for a fox, and too big for a caribou. Pepin stopped and tried to find out what on earth the creature was. The silhouette moved slightly and then it raised its large head and a long neck appeared.
"What on Earth?" Pepin thought. This creature of some sort had a neck longer then a giraffes', and its body was twice the size with a tail. Pepin, moved on by curiosity, slowly started to go near the animal and slowly, color and shape started to take form. Its body was very large and had skin that looked crinkly and scaly all over. It had four legs and it had a large head with large eyes. Then Pepin stopped in fear and slowly walked backwards. The creature had spotted him and was now slowly approaching the poor bear. The ground shook with every step it took and it was five times larger then Pepin standing. Large wing like appendages slowly arose from its back and it started to make a low growling noise. Pepin knew that even if he turned and ran the creature would pounce and eat him whole. There was no escape, and Pepin soon found himself stuck in one place paralyzed with fear.
The large beast closed in on Pepin and had a death look in its eyes. It stopped right in front of Pepin and kept giving him to evil look. Then Pepin looked in shock as he finally found out what the beast was. The figure was a large female dragon; an ancient giant that was thought to be extinct for years and now it was face to face with Pepin. Pepin stood in awe as the magical beast sat down on its large hind legs and watched as the death look turned into a serious face, and it began to speak.
"Young bear," she began, "I need to know of what had occurred here on the 14 of February. If you do not tell me you might endanger your home." Pepin looked across the dragon and saw the area were he was told about that same month. It was were a boy named David Rain was concealed beneath the ice by four bears and a young girl watching.
"The ice flow," he began, "Was were a boy named David Rain was buried due to an ice spear in the heart and the chest by an alien called the Fain if I remember correctly." The dragon hung her head low, "It is always a sad thing when a human dies, but for that one, it was too early."
"What do you mean?" Pepin asked. The dragon looked at Pepin in the eyes, "What I mean is that person's life was not ready to be taken away from this Earth." She responded, "He was killed by someone not of this planet, so it was not his time."
"Well, he spoke an ancient secret," Pepin added, "He swore to never speak of were Gawain's fire tear was hidden yet when he was about to die he told it to the alien so the spirit of Rangar would kill it."
"Was that so wrong of him?" The dragon snapped back, "He only said it to prevent an alien from harming people of this planet and either way he was going to pass away. He did it so the alien would not kill your fellow bears by the sound of it. I bet if he did not do it the Fan or whatever it was would have killed the bears just to know of the secret of my relative Gawain's fire tear. Those bears did not have to let him go." Pepin looked at the dragon in the eyes, and then said, "Maybe you are right, but we cannot change that now, even if we could, why would you need him?" the dragon nodded, "Yes, a very good question," she started to say, "but I do not need him for me, there is a girl who's job is to protect something very precious to dragon kind, and she might soon be in danger."
"Then why don't you go save her?" Pepin annoyed asked. Of all of the animals on Earth it had to be dragons who were detailed at everything they say. Being the impatient one Pepin started to feel like that dragon was trying to trick him, but never the less, the dragon continued, "I cannot save her unless I want to be hunted down and sold as scrap meat to families! The girl needs someone who has already seen dragons and knows of them so those people would understand her better once he finds out what exactly she is capable of. That is all you want and need to know yes?" Pepin nodded a yes, but then cringed as his stomach growled for food. The dragon noticed and gave him a sympathetic look.
"You have helped me gain knowledge of what exactly happened here and you were patient, so I will give you gift." Then the dragon cupped her hands together and breathed into them. She put her hands down to the ground and opened them. There out of her hands was a large Caribou that seemed like it was freshly killed. She then made a sound in the back of her throat and let out a small jet of fire. Then Caribou was then heated up and warm and Pepin smiled at his large reward; a large animal that would last him for the rest of the winter. Pepin then started to take a large chunk out and slowly ate it. The dragon smiled and said, "I am glad you like it. There is one more favor I wanted to ask you." Pepin stopped his chewing and looked at the dragon attentively. How could he not help her after she gave him his meal? The dragon looked down and asked, "I need you to tell the bears that this boy named David will be living once again."
"And why do you need him?" A voice said. The dragon turned around and there stood the four bears that concealed David under the ice. "What business do you have here dragon?" One of the bears, male, asked. The dragon lowered her head so she would be bowing to his level. "My name," she began, "is Gagia, and I need your help raising this boy from under the ice and bring him his life back so he can protect a young girl who is vital to ours and many other magical creatures race. I swear to you it is not a trick, because if you do not do this the whole planet might be in danger of losing the Arctic, Antarctic, and animals. " One of the bears stepped forward and looked a Gagia in the eye. "And where is this girl of whom you speak of? You can not say he needs to protect someone when there is no one to protect." Gagia looked to her left and walked to where the girl was instructed to stay. Only she was not there. Gagia gasped and looked all around for the girl franticly. She was nowhere to be seen. Angered that the girl did not listen Gagia roared loudly and stomped the ice, but it did not bring the girl back. The bears gave her an angered look and walked their way towards Gagia, and so did Pepin. Expecting them to yell at her Gagia hung her head low and waited for them to question her, but they did not. Pepin walked up to her and sat next to her head and nicely said,
"Gagia, if you are speaking the truth and we do find a girl somewhere out there, we will help you." Gagia looked at him with the most thankful look any one could give. One of the bears grunted and looked at Pepin angrily.
"And how do you think we will find her?" He began, "the ice goes on forever it seems and you think we would be able to spot a girl?" Then, as if on queue, a girl with brown red hair stepped out of nowhere with a frozen raven in her hands. The bear's eyes grew wide and backed away slowly, while the girl held the raven to her chest warming it. Gagia, happy and angered at the same time, walked up to the girl but stopped and looked at the raven puzzled.
"Eveny," Gagia said, "Where on Earth did you get that raven?" Gagia started to breathe her warm breath on it and the ice slowly melted. Pepin, scared and breathless of at the girl who appeared out of nowhere, managed to utter out the words, "That is….t-the sibyl Gwillana."