Jack awoke suddenly in the morning, as light suddenly pierced through the window. Only then did he feel how cold it had gotten overnight, but he doubted the man whom he had his arms wrapped around would notice. Gently, Jack kissed him on the neck before rising out of the bed – which he realised was a lot warmer than the air in the room. He walked over to the fireplace, where there were only a few coals left: tiny, blackened and barely still warm. Jack built up a fire again, slowly, until he managed to get a sizable log going. The Doctor still slept. Jack dressed himself, and pulled the blanket up higher over his love. Just making it to the door, creaking it open, he heard a voice behind him. The Doctor had sat up, with the blanket still covering him, and was looking at Jack leaving.
"Go back to sleep, hun. I'm just going downstairs."
"Not without me, I've had enough sleep." The Doctor stated before swiftly getting up and beginning to put clothes on. Jack was amazed with how he had gotten away with using that term of endearment on the Doctor – he had only said it for fun, expecting the Doctor to make a joking comment in return. But he kind of liked it, how it was received seriously. Before long, the skinny man had dressed himself in his suit and was passing Jack who stood in the doorway, pressing his body up against the Captain's and pressing their lips together briefly. They held hands as they strolled down into Galdir's bar, which upon arrival seemed still closed.
They left a note, the Doctor writing it for them so that it would be understood. It said that they were so grateful for the hospitality, and that they had gone out to search for the Tardis. The sun was shining warmly, which was causing the snow to soften and get caught in their coats that trailed the ground. However as Jack looked to the sky, it didn't look like it would stay sunny long – despite being just on dawn. The dark ominous clouds approaching meant yet more snow. But they didn't mind, once they found the Tardis they didn't have to return in the dark or cold snow. Since they didn't have to leave anywhere with the Tardis, they just had to get to it, the fact that it was now guarded by a dragon didn't seem as important. Jack noted the use of the key word 'as' when the Doctor told him his plan last night. Honestly, Jack didn't see how they were going to get in there. But the Doctor seemed confident, he loved him for that, and so Jack was happy to do whatever was required.
The Doctor seemed to know where he was going, with a combination of Draegr's directions and his Timelord sense of direction. Jack was grateful for this, since he didn't have a clue where they were. The forest all looked the same to him, and every now and again got the feeling that they were being watched. But he assumed he was just being paranoid – there was nothing but whiteness amid the trees. It had been over two hours since they left the village, and still hadn't reached anything that could be used as a landmark in Jack's eyes.
"Doctor, are we lost?"
"No, of course not! We're at the bottom of that ridge, Jack. The one we parked the Tardis on – it's up over there." The Doctor pointed upwards in the distance, and Jack saw a small cliff face.
"Right. So…where does that make us?"
"Close to the dragon's lair, I think. Should be a cave in this mountain coming up, like a gaping mouth opening in the side of a rock cliff face…a massive hole in the side of a mountain."
Jack's muscles tensed tightly, and not from the cold. Although it had been getting colder since they started walking, and it was a lot darker now. But he was still terrified for the Doctor's safety, and being around a dragon's lair was not one of the more safe places in the universe. Then again it wasn't like they had much choice – they had to get there sooner or later.
The wind started to pick up, and that sent a chill to Jack's bones. He started to shiver and moved closer to the Doctor, who still didn't seem to mind all that much – he was still warm enough. They walked to the peak of a small mound that they were climbing, and saw it. A massive dark cave, with stalactites and stalagmites at the entrance giving the impression of teeth. Jack considered that very appropriate. They walked closer, until they were almost at the bottom of the rocky escarpment to the mouth of the cave, which sat ten or so metres above ground level. Then a white form walked out into the light, still sparkling in the dim glow of the sun. It snapped its attention to the pair below its lair – and stood frozen, piercing them with its cyan blue gaze. The men didn't move either. Slowly, Jack pulled the Doctor so that he was behind him. The dragon tilted its head to the side. It then noticed the thick snow that was blowing into them and the ground, and looked at the dark sky – moving its whole head upwards. The Doctor took this moment to start running in the other direction. The dragon roared, a loud deep roar that rumbled throughout the trees, but also had high pitched notes layered over the top. It didn't chase them, however, and Jack was glad for it.
They made it over the mound and slid in the snow as the strong winds howled against them. There was a whooshing sound, and the dragon took flight. Jack peered over the edge, while they lay in the snow, and saw the massive beast in the air – frantically beating its blue wings in an attempt to fly against the wind. It growled in frustration, and landed just on the other side of the mound to them. The Doctor leapt up and ran downwards and to the left, Jack on his heels. The dragon, forced to remain flightless, took after them in the snow. The men ran, terrified, towards a clearing. The Doctor feared that the dragon could chase them better without having to avoid trees, but couldn't think of anywhere else to run. The trees stopped, as did the downhill slope which flattened out entirely. The expanse was large, with the forest continuing up a hill far on the other side. The Doctor felt the ground was strange, like the snow was more solid yet thinner at the same time. Jack looked over his shoulder to see how close the dragon was, only to find that it had stopped at the forest's edge. It roared again, differently to last time. More… desperately. It padded along in the snow, pacing back and forward. Jack had stopped the Doctor to see what was going on. The dragon continued to growl at them, yet refused to take a step closer.
"What… do you suppose it's doing?" Jack panted to the Doctor. The Doctor shook his head, wondering why the dragon didn't want to venture out onto the flat ground. The wind howled stronger, slapping them in the face – so hard that the Doctor lost his footing and fell hard upon the ground. It was then he suddenly understood the dragon. There was a deep rumble as he hit the ground, which was only softened by a thin layer of snow before hard ice. Sharp splintering followed the rumble, and deafening cracks resounded from where the Doctor lay motionless. Dread washed over him and he dared not move once he heard the sound of the ice cracking. Jack looked at him fearfully, with barely enough time to meet his eye before the ice gave way and he plummeted into the black depths below the lake.
The dragon screamed, as did Jack. The Doctor must have landed on a thin section, like a trapped bubble or similar, because the ice that Jack stood upon was thick enough to withstand his weight easily. Jack had dropped to his knees, trying to look into the water to see if the Doctor was resurfacing – but much to his dismay, there were only air bubbles that rose to the surface. The Timelord's body, while able to resist colder temperatures, had stiffened in the coldness of the water. The Doctor couldn't move a muscle, and the sudden temperature change had forced all the air out of his lungs and caused him to inhale a lungful of water. He was sinking, down and down and there wasn't any way he could get himself up. His vision started fading as his brain began to shut down from the cold that was searing his body. He was barely able to register something grabbing him as he lost consciousness. Jack had dived half his body in, really straight after the ice had cracked but it seemed much longer, and grabbed the Doctor. Clenching to his chest, Jack heaved the body upwards and out of the freezing water.
Jack dragged him onto the surrounding snow that melted into the iced-over lake and froze after the water soaked into it from the Doctor's body. Jack didn't notice the cold on his top half; he just noticed how the Doctor wasn't moving. Jack fumbled to roll him on his side, and opened his mouth – noticing how cold his deathly white skin was. Jack couldn't tell whether or not it was because he was also wet from the water, or the dread of the Doctor's state, but a wave of cold washed over him. Why, why does this keep happening? Water poured from the Doctor's mouth, spilling from his lungs, as Jack continued to pant in fear. He was glad that his immortality gave him resistance from life-threatening situations, but was beginning to fear that there was some kind of karma causing the Doctor to get injured to the point of death. Could make sense – the immortal and the Timelord causing havoc on the space-time continuum and the universe wants to correct it? Maybe, this kind of thing would be for the Doctor to think about. Jack shook his head to push those thoughts away, he couldn't afford distraction right now – the Doctor wasn't breathing and there was a dragon at the lake's edge wanting to eat them. Bigger things to think about.
"Breathe, damn it Doc. Come on!" Jack shouted, grabbing his mouth and breathing into his lungs – for the second time this week. His lips were frozen, his skin white and wet as he started to pound at the Doctor's chest over both of his hearts. Even when Jack dripped water onto his cheek from his hair it started to freeze in the wind – making him fear that the Doctor wouldn't wake. From a distance, Jack heard the dragon roar again – reminding him that he had limited time. The wind died down to almost a standstill for a moment, causing the dragon to take off into the air. Jack gave another strong breath to the Doctor, who thankfully began coughing and spluttering to breathe again. Jack grabbed the sides of his head and gave him a kiss – what he feared was their last kiss, since the dragon was rapidly approaching from the sky.
"Don't scare me like that Doc!"
The wind suddenly started again, causing the dragon to flutter off course, and giving Jack some extra time to grab the Doctor and pull him to his feet.
"I'm so sorry, but we have to go… please Doctor, we have to get out of here." Jack muttered desperately to the man he clung to, holding almost his entire weight since the Doctor just couldn't stand. Jack was freezing himself, but his body was rapidly returning to normal temperature. Looking out to see where they could find shelter from the Beast, Jack suddenly saw the Lodge that had been hidden in the blanket of snow that had been falling before.
"The Lodge… it's safe there. It's not far, you just gotta walk there Doctor." Jack said as he held onto the Doctor's sopping body and tried to run. But he couldn't. And he was out of time.