- Chapter 3 -
The SkyWing whose scales shone red as dragon blood loomed over the dragons sleeping in the darkened cave. His colossal figure made them appear puny and malnourished.
He stood tall, holding his head high, trying to look dignified, which was difficult for him to accomplish when the room's roof was slightly shorter than he was.
Upon one of his back legs was a large stick secured to his injury with wraps of white bandages to be used as support. Scars dotted his body like leaves upon the ground in fall. A long scratch on his shoulder that ran down his arm, a small burn that had been nearly blackened on his neck, his large tail had been bent the wrong way near the tip… the list goes on.
Frostbite found himself waking from a pleasant dream, something about being in shoulder deep in snow when he met Nimbus' stern stare. The IceWing froze and returned his glance, captivated by his golden gaze. His eyes, which were his most distinguishable features in the dark room, had been slowly narrowing to slits, perhaps studying Frostbite, perhaps piercing through him.
The moonlight peered into the dwelling, illuminating the SkyWing's sturdy back, curved neck, and long black horns with a white sheen.
Frostbite shifted back into his bed uncomfortably, careful not to break eye contact, but otherwise unsure of what to do. He could feel his heart thundering in his chest, for he had not seen his SkyWing father in at least three years. All he knew was that bitter resentment radiated off the intimidating dragon like light from the sun. Frostbite could see it on the way his face occasionally twitched.
The mortified IceWing continued to wait, trying to make his presence so small that Nimbus would no longer notice him. He desperately hoped that Nimbus would say something, or do something. Anything would be better than continuing to stare into his unblinking eyes.
Frostbite noticed that he wore no jewelry except for a small, silver ring, very similar to one Amber had worn long ago, placed halfway down one of his horns.
After a few very uncomfortable moments, the silence was broken. Amber, who had just woken as well, yawned quietly as she flexed her talons before swiveling her neck around and seeing the SkyWing she had married years before standing by the table, towering over Frostbite. The pale moonlight shone just bright enough for her to see the two dragons on the other side of the cave.
Both of their heads turned to face her. The smaller dragon shot her a frightful look, but she did not seem to notice.
All she could do was observe the greater SkyWing with a look of absolute awe before tenderly speaking, "Nimbus, how I've missed you so. Not a single day has gone by without me thinking of how much better it could be with you at my side. You are my sun, my moons, my entire world. Nothing delights me more than to see you here now, alive and breathing." She smiled at him sweetly, a look of age-old desire printed on her face.
As if he had completely ignored the loving words spoken to him, his only reply in a gruff dignified voice was, "I see the IceWing is still here."
Frostbite tried to sink lower into his bed.
Amber shifted her head back, hurt by his lack of compassion. "Why, of course he is," she said defensively, narrowing her eyes. "He's our son, and you better be nice to him. Yesterday was his anniversary."
She crawled onto the floor and walked over to Nimbus as she spoke. She tried to entwine her tail with his, careful to avoid his bent edge, but he seemed uninterested- unresponsive to the kind gesture as he turned his attention back to look down at Frostbite.
"Anniversary?" he growled, "Anniversary of what? Oh, I get it."
At that moment, Frostbite wished he could turn invisible, or even just disappear altogether. Anything to avoid the SkyWing's deathly gaze.
"Nimbus," she warned, slightly raising her voice, but still trying to be quiet enough to allow Topaz to continue dreaming.
He ignored her again and hissed, "Six years ago to this date, you let him drag you and I down to this trivial town!"
His words caused Topaz to wake. She lifted her head and stared at him with widening eyes.
Amber sighed, the aggression in her voice vanquished. "None of that is his fault- you know that. You're just tired and cranky. Get some rest, we can talk in the morning."
The vexed SkyWing only scoffed as he finally broke his frigid glance and started limping toward the far corner of the cave. He entered the forbidden room, which had remained uninhabited for years.
Once he was out of sight, Amber wrapped a wing around Frostbite.
"Don't worry," she spoke calmingly to the shaking IceWing as she stood by his bed, "Nimbus won't hurt you- not as long as he knows that you are important to me. I'm sorry he's making himself seem awful." She lowered her head closer to his"After a good, rest he will have an easier time controlling his temper. You know, he does care about you, too, but he would never admit that."
Frostbite did not believe a word of it.
(Transition)
"No, Nimbus," Amber stated firmly. It seemed as though they had been arguing for hours- Nimbus making some drastic decision and Amber trying desperately to persuade him otherwise.
Frostbite and Topaz were huddled under the black, gray, and brown furs on top of his bed.
Whenever Topaz was feeling uneasy, she would usually take comfort in standing at Amber's side. If Amber was not around, she could always count on Frostbite, even if it meant subjecting herself to his freezing scales.
The voices carried on from Nimbus' room.
"I request that you take me to the guard camp, and you're going to take me there, or I will find it myself," the deep voice boomed. "I'm not going to recover by just sitting around. Now, step out of my way!"
"I don't remember Father being this angry," Topaz whispered. "He was a lot nicer when I was only one year old… Ok, that's not completely true, but he didn't use to be this mean to Mother."
Frostbite nodded slowly. "He's treating her like a nuisance rather than a living dragon. Also, he clearly doesn't like me, I'm not absolutely sure why… No, that's a lie. It's because he has me, an IceWing, living in his home. Yeah, that's probably why," he sighed.
The arguing continued. "First of all," Amber shouted, "don't talk to me like I'm just your servant! Secondly, I am NOT letting you go battle training with a broken leg! You're only going to hurt yourself more!"
"The only thing that could hurt me more," Nimbus snapped, "is not being in top shape when I am permitted back on the battlegrounds! Now, get out of my way!" Smoke was likely pouring from his nostrils. That would explain the smell.
"Come on, Nimbus," she muttered without raising her voice. "Can't you just forget about the war? It's going to end before you can fully heal anyway, or, so says the prophecy."
"The prophecy isn't real," Nimbus snapped back. "It's obviously just a hoax. Surely you don't believe the war I've been fighting for years could be ended by a group of dragonets in a single night. Now, get out of my way!" He stomped his back leg upon the ground, causing the whole cave to shake.
"Can't you just spend some time with your family?" Amber sighed. "You haven't even said hello to your daughter. Actually, you haven't said hello to any of us. Don't you care about your children?" She started raising her voice again. "Don't you care about me?
His only reply was a loud grunt. Amber sighed defeatedly, presumably stepping aside. Nimbus marched out of his room.
Peering out from under the sheets, Frostbite could see the agitated Skywing move around the table. As Nimbus came closer, Frostbite retreated under the pile of furs. Nimbus walked passed the bed without paying them any mind. They could hear a loud flap as he took off with his gigantic wings, heading for the guard camp.
Amber's head peeked out of the room, an expression of remorse clear on her face. She saw the lump of furs on Frostbite's bed and sighed with a sort of distaste.
"I'm sorry that fighting is the first thing Nimbus I and have done since he returned. You must think he's so terrible, but he wasn't like this before he went off to war for the first time seven years ago…"
Frostbite uncovered his head, his spikes laying flat on his neck.
"Is it my fault he seems so angry? I know that he doesn't like me because I'm an IceWing, but did I ever do something to him? When it was still dark, he said that I was the reason we live in Diamond Spray Town. I like it here, but he made it sound like it was a bad thing."
"Of course not, Frostbite," Amber said sweetly, stroking the back of his neck with her talons. "But I'd prefer not to discuss that further."
Topaz popped her head out of the covers, her eyes looking up to stare at Amber.
"Why is he being so mean then? We never did anything to him," she stated with disgust.
"It's probably something I did years ago," Amber muttered gloomily.
"You?" Frostbite asked, surprised by her statement. The spikes on his head stood up, pushing away Amber's claw. "No, you're just saying that to make me feel better."
"Nevermind that, Frostbite," she sighed and tried to change the subject. "Surprisingly, Canary didn't put me on guard duty today. She probably heard Nimbus was coming back and decided to let me have some time with Nimbus. Well, clearly that didn't work out- Canary will see when he appears at camp, but it was still a nice gesture regardless. Hmm, I never thought I'd put the words 'Canary' and 'nice' in the same sentence." She and Topaz smirked. "Well, anyway, that's beside the point. Since I have some free time, and it's such a beautiful day, what do you two want to do?"
Topaz responded instantly. "Let's go to the river and hunt for DIAMONDS!" she shouted cheerfully, jumping up and down on the bed.
"Well, it was Frostbite's anniversary so I think he should decide," Amber concluded.
Topaz stared up at him with widening eyes.
"Sure, I don't see why not."
(Transition)
"Ooh! Ooh! I think I found one! Wait, it's just a white rock." She tossed it back into the river with a small sploosh.
Frostbite looked down through the crystal clear waters. The only colors he could see showing through were the light browns and grays of stones resting submerged in the stream.
"I thought that diamonds were white rocks, but shiny, you know? Anyway, I don't see anything," Frostbite announced.
"Keep looking," Topaz responded frustratedly, "What about you, Mother?"
Topaz and Frostbite turned their heads. Amber was lying on her side, closer to the forest and trees than the stream. Her eyes were closed. She did not respond.
"She must be daydreaming," Frostbite assumed, staring at the plain, gray fish that had swam upstream within his view. Their scales glinted in the light as their tails pushed back and forth. If he had not known better, he might have mistaken their flashing lights for precious gems, which he was sure Topaz was going to once they reached her.
"Mother!" Topaz whined, "You're supposed to be looking for gemstones!" She ran over angrily and tried to rustle the dozing SkyWing awake. Frostbite watched them. Topaz complained loudly in her ear, and Amber lifted her head up, looking quite dazed.
This has been going on for less than a minute when Frostbite heard a voice coming from the trees behind him.
"Hey, you," the voice hissed coldly. Frostbite redirected his gaze to the woods behind and saw a light blue head peeking out of the overgrowth. It had long spikes with beady black eyes and seemed to have an annoyed expression. "What do you think you're doing out here with the SkyWings? This is sky territory!"
"Well, I. uh," Frostbite started, but the irritated dragon reached out and grabbed his snout with both claws. He dragged him into the shrubs.
Leafs smacked his face as Frostbite stumbled over into the cover of the trees. The other IceWing signaled him to be quiet. Frostbite noticed a silver chain worn loosely around his neck with two silver rings dangling from it and a leather bag secured to his front leg with several tears in it.
He released Frostbite's snout from his firm grasp, and Frostbite got a better look at him. He was twice as tall as Frostbite, but only slightly larger than Amber, and only appearing slightly older as well. He had the scar of a scratch over his face and mouth, as well as injuries amongst other places, but much fewer markings than Nimbus.
"Not so loud, moron," he hissed again quietly. "Those SkyWings over there will hear us. I don't know who you are, or what you're doing here, but we need to take those SkyWings out. If you're feeling sneaky, we can get the jump on them and kill them before things get ugly. By the moons, you're tiny. Ok, I'll get the big one, and you get the small one." Frostbite could feel the IceWing's cold breath on his face.
Is this what other dragons feel when I talk to them?
"Uh, no thanks," Frostbite whispered back, unsure of where he was going with this. "They're my family."
"Family?" the larger IceWing snarled at him.
"Um, I mean not my family, but we probably shouldn't kill them anyway. They're not hurting anybody." The other IceWing gave him a puzzled look. "Say, where did you get that necklace? It looks interesting," Frostbite voiced hurriedly, trying to cover up his previous statement.
The newcomer looked at Frostbite's neck and growled, "If you were a real IceWing, you'd have one too, and you'd know that it meant I am in the second circle- second to best." He paused. "But you're not a real IceWing, are you? Otherwise, you'd know that SkyWings are terrible creatures that need to be killed."
"Clearly I am an IceWing. You can see that, right?"
"You are nothing!" he roared, causing Frostbite to step back. "Nothing but a traitor!"
Frostbite quickly turned and lunged out of the overgrowth toward the river. He hit the ground with a small plume of dust and rolled over onto his back. The frightened IceWing tried to scamper up and lifted his head just in time to see the larger dragon dive out of the bushes. He could feel the other dragon's body collide with his and pin him to the ground.
He shot one claw toward Frostbite's neck and gripped it tightly, his sharp talons causing the smaller dragon's neck to bleed slightly. He raised his other claw, as if about to strike.
Frostbite could hear Amber and Topaz shriek from the distance, but they were too far away to do anything. Frostbite struggled and started gasping for air, but he could not free himself from the throat-clenching grasp. He looked up at the other dragon's face- a look of pure malice, as he kept squeezing tighter and tighter. Frostbite started coughing and gagging. He felt as if he was drowning on land.
Eventually, Frostbite just stopped. He felt weak, the air had gone entirely from his lungs, realizing that it was pointless to continue squirming. He could swear he felt his heart stop thundering in his chest as he closed his eyes and braced himself for impending death, either from suffocation or a slash that was about to make its way onto his neck.
All of a sudden, Frostbite could not hear anything. The sounds he heard before- the screaming of his family, the roaring of the river, his own choking, were replaced by a peaceful bliss as he felt the weight of the other dragon lifted off of him.
Oh, I must be dead, Frostbite realized. Hmm, dying wasn't nearly as painful as I feared. Perhaps I shall open my eyes and greet the new horizon.
And so he did. Slowly lifting his eyelids, he saw nothing but the clear blue sky above from where he was still laying on his back. The other dragon was no longer on top of him. A hazy black outline surrounded his vision, pulsing larger, then shrinking again repeatedly.
Slowly, he started refiling his lungs with air, breathing very lightly, yet still breathing.
He looked to his right, his neck aching as he turned his head. He saw nothing but the ground, the pebbles, and the grass he laid in.
Nothing but the ground and the river that way, he thought to himself.
He turned his head left. There, he saw Nimbus, standing over something, his back turned to Frostbite, wielding a mighty spear over his head. He thrust it downward.
Nimbus saved me, Frostbite realized. Now I know I'm dead. Then the darkness consumed his vision entirely, and he blacked out.
