Hello all and welcome back to another chapter
Not much to say this time around
Let's just dive right into the chapter…
Chapter 13 – Slippery Sickness
Dear Diary…
Being sick is the worst, you just feel terrible and everything around you doesn't help. But it's better when you have other's around you to help you feel better…
It was an early January morning and things weren't going well. Redwing, Rocky, Burst and Spark, Flame, and Snowflake had all come down with a sickness. How did they come down with this sickness? They all somehow accidently ate eels the previous night. Crystie kept questioning how so many of them got sick but complaining wasn't going to heal them.
The sick dragons were currently quarantined in the caves in the mountain area; they were put in the caves towards the back so there would be less of a chance of spreading, and Crystie wanted to keep them from accidently contaminating her things. The young viking had managed to get Storm, the twins, Amber, and a reluctant Cypress away from the caves and located to under a pine tree several feet away from the cave's entrance.
The dragons were showing strange symptoms, being more confused and hostile than normal. Another symptom the dragons were showing was a different and more powerful kind of fire; Snowflake had sneezed violently, shooting out a vibrant red stream of fire that almost hit Crystie's foot. She was more cautious around the dragons after that.
The young viking was currently outside sitting against the pine tree, reading her book of dragons, hoping it would give her an answer on how to cure this sickness. There was a light dusting of frost around the area, making Crystie shiver slightly; She'd need to put on her parka later.
After skimming through the pages for a while, Crystie had found what she was looking for; There were a few pages on dragon sicknesses near the back of the book.
The sickness the dragons had was called Eel pox, which made sense now that Crystie thought about it. The page listed the symptoms she'd seen, looking sickly, hostility, more powerful firepower, and confusion; It also listed that the dragons become more delirious and disoriented their senses.
Crystie did note that humans could also get the sickness; not the exact same kind but similar which worried Crystie as she did not want to catch it herself. How was she supposed to help out the sick dragons if she was sick herself?
Going back to the page, she found the list of ingredients that cured the sickness; One buckthorn root, a dozen rock blossoms, a handful of goatweed and one wild dagga plant. Below that list was another ingredient listed; one bloodvein eel. It had a small note next to it "The bloodvein eel is an ingredient only needed for if a human has fallen ill with eelpox. Do not feed a dragon a bloodvein eel, as it will make the sickness worse and make the dragon more dangerous". She made a mental note of that, just in case she ever got the sickness.
According to the page, the needed ingredients were all on one island that was named 'Remedy Island'; there was also a small description of some directions on how to get there. Crystie just hoped that it wouldn't be too long to get there.
The young viking closed the book and put it beside her before looking at her side. Cypress was curled up against the young viking's side, trying to get some sort of warmth. Crystie stroked the feline's head which made him look up at her.
"Hey buddy, how are you feeling?" she asked, stroking behind Cypress's left ear. He closed his eyes and let out a satisfied purr which made Crystie chuckle.
"I'm gonna need you to stay here and watch over the guys that are sick when me and the others go out and look for cure ingredients" Crystie stated.
Cypress stopped purring and looked at the young viking with a look of annoyance.
"Oh don't look at me like that. You're the only one that won't get sick by being around them and I want someone to be here while we go out" Crystie replied.
Cypress snorted and turned his head away. Crystie let out an annoyed sigh before an idea popped into her head.
"If you stay here while we're out, I'll give you extra fish for a week" she offered.
Cypress's ears perked up and he turned to look at the young viking; That got him interested. He tilted his head as if to ask 'is that true?'. Crystie nodded in reply. He seemed to consider the offer for a few moments before nodding in agreement. Crystie stroked under the cat's chin, the creature in question letting out a satisfied purr.
"Good boy. Now go make sure they're okay, the rest of us are going to get ready".
A small while later, the group were flying over the ocean, heading towards Remedy Island; The group consisted of Crystie, who was now wearing her parka and was riding Storm; Amber who was flying a bit ahead and the twins who were flying behind Amber. It was currently a clear day, no cloud in sight.
The young trio was still going fast; Amber had reached around Crystie's height, and the twins were a few inches below the young viking's shoulders. The Death Song was flying about the place, doing loop de loops in the air and just having a good time; Blue and Red were chatting to each other while flying, occasionally gently pushing each other and overall having a good time. Crystie was glad they were enjoying themselves, but she hoped their playfulness wouldn't get in the way of their mission as it was quite a serious one.
Soon enough, they landed on Remedy Island. The island seemed to be a similar size to their home island, if not a bit smaller; The only notable difference between the two islands were that this island didn't have one large mountain and instead had a mountainous area instead.
The group had landed in a small clearing that was surrounded by a few trees and bushes. A thing Crystie noted was it seemed the whole island was covered in a light frost, making the area sparkle. She hoped the frost hadn't destroyed the ingredients they needed otherwise they'd have a whole other problem.
The young viking pulled out a piece of parchment she'd written the list of ingredients on and checked it over. It seemed the easiest ingredient to find first would be a handful goatweed so they'd start with that one. She rolled up the paper, putting it in her pocket before turning to the group.
"Right we're gonna head towards where the first ingredient should be" Crystie announced.
Storm nodded but the young trio were still playing with each other, likely not hearing a word Crystie said. She tried clearing her throat to get their attention but that fell on deaf ears. Since the young viking had failed to gain their attention Storm attempted to; the blue dragon let out a loud roar that echoed around the area. The trio stopped and turned their attention to their mother and Crystie.
"Thank you Storm. Now, as I was saying, we're going to be looking for the ingredients so we need to keep our eyes peeled and be on our best behaviours. Do you guys understand?" Crystie asked.
The trio nodded in reply.
"Alright, let's get going" Crystie said and the group began walking towards their intended destination.
Goatweed was described to be similar to grass; It has long thin green blades and apparently grows in places that have more sunlight like high platforms and ledges.
The group were walking across a flat rocky plain, looking for any sign of the goatweed. Crystie thought it shouldn't be too hard to find the green ingredient in the frosty field but apparently it was. They kept scowering for the green blades they needed.
Crystie sighed; there didn't seem to be any goatweed in this area as they had been searching for a while but came up with nothing; she considered moving onto a different area that could possibly have it.
Amber's chirping brought her out of her thoughts and made her look over that the young dragon. Amber was jumping up and down excitedly and was looking at Crystie with of that same excitement. The young viking walked over to the orange dragon and crouched down next to her. Amber stopped jumping and pointed towards the grass with her tail. There, in the middle of all the frost, was a patch of vibrant green goatweed.
"Great job Amber" Crystie said while patting the dragon's head.
Amber wagged her tail excitedly and began signing loudly. In a panic, Crystie clamped Amber's snout shut with her hands. Amber looked surprised and a bit annoyed and gave Crystie a questioning look.
"Look, I know you're excited, you did something good. But try to keep your singing down. We don't want to attract any dangerous wild dragons here cause that would be a whole other problem. Just, please keep it down, okay?" Crystie asked, giving Amber a small smile.
Amber seemed a bit disappointed but nodded. Crystie let her hands drop to her side and Amber walked over to her sisters, beginning to talk to them. The young viking let out a sigh, she didn't want to make the young dragon sad but they had to learn that sometimes you have to follow the rules.
Pushing her thoughts aside, Crystie reached into her boot and pulled out her dagger. She held onto the dagger with one hand and held onto a handful of goatweed, gently pulling it up from the ground. Using the dagger, she sliced through the bottom of the goatweed, leaving her with a nice handful.
After making sure she had enough, she put the ingredient in a zip up satchel she'd brought, placing that satchel in her own bag. Crystie stood up and brushed the frost off of her; Time to move onto the next ingredient.
The next ingredient they needed was a dozen rock blossoms. Rock blossoms were five lobed flowers that came in a variety of colours. These flowers were normally found in flat plains near small rocks, in flower patches; they could be found anywhere that had good soil.
The group were in a random field that had nothing but small clusters of rocks and boulders. Being that it was winter and the area was covered in frost, Crystie was slightly worried that they wouldn't be able to find the blossoms or not find enough of them but she pushed those thoughts aside.
The young viking was currently searching around a small cluster of rocks with Blue and Red beside her. She peered through the rocks to see if there was anything there but sadly there was nothing; There was no sight of the rock blossoms anywhere.
Crystie sat down and sighed. This was not turning out good. The twins noticed something behind Crystie and walked off and out of the young viking's sight.
A slight tickle made its way into Crystie's throat which made her cough slightly; she should probably drink some water if they found some. Using her arms to prop herself up, Crystie leaned backwards, letting her legs stretch out. The cold didn't bother her too much which Crystie found surprising.
The sound of two unknown creatures could be heard from behind Crystie but she didn't really pay too much attention to it. Turning her head, Crystie looked over at Storm and Amber, who were checking around one of the larger clusters in the area.
"Anything?" Crystie called out to the two.
Both dragons shook their heads which made Crystie let out a sigh and let her head hit the ground. This was not going well, not in the slightest. This is what Crystie had feared, the coldness of winter had killed all the rock blossoms; There could possibly be some in another area but that was unlikely. She could fly over to Winterstone and see if they had any, but the book had said they grew on this island so there wouldn't be any point.
A pair of soft growls brought the young viking out of her thoughts. She lifted her head backwards to see what was going on. She saw Blue and Red standing next to a pair of large rocks; The two dragons were staring at her, gesturing towards the rocks with their heads.
"Did you two find something?" Crystie asked, sitting up and turning to face the two dragons. The twins nodded in reply.
The young viking stood up and walked towards where the twins were standing, crouching down beside them. There, in-between the two rocks, were a patch of rock blossoms. A sigh of relief escaped Crystie's lips; crisis averted. The blossoms looked to be all in good condition despite having a light dusting of frost. There was also more than enough of them for the cure so they didn't need to worry in case they needed extra.
Carefully brushing away the frost, Crystie plucked the flowers from the ground and put them in another zip up bag she had. She was about to move away but something near where the patch was caught her eye.
There were footprints in the frost, or more specifically, claw prints. The sole of the foot was a somewhat rounded shape and four thin triangle shaped claw points were a few inches above the sole; Whatever creature this was, they had big claws. They weren't Blue or Red's claw prints as their feet were thinner and their claws were shorter.
The twins seemed to be bored as they started playing with each other, obscuring the footprint and brushing it away. Crystie felt slightly annoyed but just brushed it off, it wasn't something she really needed to worry about. Time to head towards the next ingredient.
Moving on, the next ingredient they needed to find was a buckthorn root. Buckthorn root was described as a woody branched root that grew in sandy places like beaches, sandy hilltops and sandy cliffsides.
The group were searching on top of a sandy cliffside near the edge of the island; the cliffside had a mixture of sand, grass and small rocks scattered about the place. There was a very steep drop over the cliffside which Crystie was trying her best to keep away from.
Crystie was crouched down near a small patch of stones, trying to find a trace of the wooden branch in the sea of whites, greens, yellows and greys; her search came up fruitless however, which made the young viking sigh.
Since it was hard getting the ingredients, they'd need to come back in the warmer months to get more since it'd be easier to get them then.
Storm's voice brought the young viking out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the blue dragon pointing to something beneath her with her foot several feet away from the cliff-edge. Crystie stood up and sped walked over to where her friend was standing, looking down at what she'd been pointing at. There, half buried in the sand, was a large buckthorn root.
"Yay, we found one" Crystie cheered, raising her arms in victory.
Storm went to go grab it out the ground but Crystie raised her hand to stop her.
"No need. I got this" Crystie interjected, crouching down and grabbing the root with both hands.
She was about to start pulling but an intense tickle in her throat made her let go and start coughing into her arm. This wasn't ideal. After finishing her coughing fit, Crystie looked over and Storm looking at her with a concerned look.
"I'm fine" she croaked out "my throat's just a bit dry".
Storm seemed to accept that answer but still seemed concerned. Crystie cleared her throat and turned back to the root. She took in a deep breath before pulling as hard as she could. The rough texture of the root scraped against her hands but she ignored it and kept pulling.
An echoing roar made Crystie turned her head slightly; She saw Amber running towards her at full speed. Crystie was about to protest but it was too late. The orange dragon rammed her head into the root, dislodging it and setting it free from the ground. This action caused Crystie to stumble back and landed roughly on her back, the root flying out of her hands. She let out a mixture between a huff and a hiss as she attempted to get back up that ended with her flopping onto her front. Lifting her head, Crystie saw the root roll away and off the edge of the cliffside.
"No" Crystie croaked out, trying to get up which ended up with her on her back again.
All Crystie could do for the moment was lay there, feeling sore and chilly. She was confused; she hadn't used that much energy to pull the root out and the rough landing wasn't that rough but seemed to knock the wind out of her; plus the added coldness even though she had her parka on was strange.
Storm came over and helped Crystie up, letting the young viking lean against her for balance.
"I'm fine, just feeling a bit sore" Crystie reassured her friend, brushing herself off and standing up straight.
The young viking looked over at Amber, who was looking slightly embarrassed.
"Amber. While I appreciate the effort; but maybe next time, run it past me or Storm first please. Then, that way, I won't be knocked on my back and possibly get a bruise" Crystie commented, feeling slightly annoyed.
Amber looked down in embarrassment, gently nudging the ground with her foot. Crystie sighed and looked over at the edge where the root had gone over. The twins were looking over the edge, roaring at something.
Then, out of nowhere, the root that was previously thrown over the edge was thrown back onto the ground. Crystie slowly walked over to where the duo was standing, also peering over the edge; Storm and Amber quickly followed behind, also looking over too.
Nothing was over the edge, only the steep drop towards the ocean. Crystie was perplexed; there seemed to be something, or some sort of force following them about. She didn't know whether to feel grateful that someone was helping them or weirded out that something was following them.
Shaking her head, Crystie brought herself out of her thoughts. Crouching down, she picked up the root and placed it in her bag, making sure it didn't crush anything else. A cough escaped her throat as she stood back up. She was not feeling the best today; maybe it was a cold? Leftover pain from landing roughly? Luckily, they only had one ingredient left, which meant they'd be able to go home and Crystie could hopefully rest.
The last ingredient they needed was a wild dagga plant. The dagga plant was described as a small plant with purple leaves with no flowers or green parts. It is said the dagga plant are usually found on the edge of cliffs.
The group were currently at the bottom of the cliffs, looking up at the cliff face where the plant should be. There was a small narrow ledge about halfway up the cliffside and Crystie could see a tiny peak of a purple leaf.
"Alright. I'll climb up there and grab th-" she began saying before her own coughing caught her off guard.
She bent over and continued coughing harshly, her throat feeling raw and dry. Feeling someone pat her back, likely Storm, Crystie eased a bit. Thankfully, her coughing ceased not too long after but she was still feeling shivery and a little bit queasy.
"I think… I think someone else is gonna have to... to get the plant" Crystie breathed out, leaning on Storm for support.
Blue and Red looked at each other before they both flew off the ground and slowly began flying up towards where the plant should be. They reached the ledge but then started arguing with each other for some reason, tugging something between them; They were getting more aggressive with each second and kept tugging. Eventually, they flew apart, several small thin objects fluttering down between them.
Crystie held out her hands and let some of the small objects land in her palms. There, resting in her hands, were ripped up purple leaves. Feeling her knees buckle underneath her, Crystie collapsed onto the ground, still looking at the ripped leaves in her hands. A shiver went up her spine and Crystie nearly had another coughing fit but she managed to clear her throat.
She could vaguely hear Storm angrily roaring but she didn't really pay much attention to it. Her mind was racing; This was not going well, not at all. While yes, they had gotten most of the ingredients, those ingredients would be practically useless without the final ingredient; And on top of that, they'd need to go get the Bloodvein eel as well since Crystie was sure she had eelpox; she'd likely caught it from one of the dragons earlier in the morning.
Letting out a croaky groan, Crystie let the remnants fall from her hands and flopped onto her back, spreading her arms out. Another problem they'd have to deal with was, not only finding another wild dagga plant, but finding and catching an eel, which was easier said than done; Not only were the dragons afraid of eels, Crystie didn't have the energy to wrestle an eel. Letting out a sigh, she continued to stare at the blue sky above her.
Something covered the corner of her eye so she turned her head slightly to look at it. They were purple leaves. Crystie saw up and looked to her side. To her side were two small dragons holding wild dagga plants in their mouths. It took her a few moments before Crystie recognized them as Typhoomerangs. Both dragons looked quite young, likely not being older than a month or two old.
Both Typhoomerangs body's looked similar to a Monstrous Nightmare's but their wings were much bigger and wider, connecting down to near the base of their tail; one of the dragon's body and wings were a bright orange colour while the other's was a blue colour; Their feet were similar to Monstrous Nightmare's as well; Their heads were somewhat thin and narrow with a horn on the tip of their snouts and a pair of horns protruding out the sides of their heads; the orange dragon had more rounded point horns while the blue dragon had more sharp pointed horns; both had white heads and pale belly colours. They had long thin tails with small spines going along its tail and up its body. They also both had bright yellow eyes which were looking at Crystie. The orange one looked like a female while the blue one looked like a male.
The two Typhoomerangs waddled closer to Crystie, depositing their dagga plants into the young viking's lap before stepping back.
"Are these for us?" Crystie questioned, looking at the pair of fledglings.
Both of them nodded and after looking over the two dragons for a few moments, something clicked in the young viking's mind.
"You're the ones that have been helping us, haven't you?" Crystie asked.
The orange dragon nodded.
"Why?"
Both dragons looked down in confusion, uncertainty and sadness. Crystie guessed that they wouldn't be able to convey their answer properly due to the language barrier. She cursed the barrier once again for creating a problem.
"Anyway" Crystie began, pushing past the problem "I don't really mind why you decided to help us but I'm glad you did".
The blue dragon smiled while the orange one rolled her eyes playfully. Crystie put the dagga plants in her bag, standing up before she broke out in another coughing fit. Storm came rushing over and patted the young viking's back with her wing. She managed to cease her coughing and stand up straight before leaning on Storm for support.
"How about we go get that eel now. Can we do that? That'd be nice" Crystie murmured, wanting this to all be over and go home and take a nap.
A small while later, the group; now with the addition of the two Typhoomerangs, were now making their way towards the lake that apparently was home to the bloodvein eel.
Crystie was now riding on top of Storm as she did not have the energy to walk long distances without falling over. The two fledglings decided to stick around for whatever reason but Crystie didn't really question it; the more the merrier.
On a related note; she'd named the orange Typhoomerang Boomerang and the blue Typhoomerang Ty.
When they arrived, the group stopped a notable distance away from the lake. Crystie looked up from where she had been daydreaming and looked around.
"Why'd you guys stop? Just keep going" Crystie said, her head swaying slightly.
Storm refused to move and shook her head along with Blue and Red. It took her a few moments before it clicked.
"Oh, right. Eels, those slimey bastards" Crystie commented, not speaking to no-one in particular; or maybe she was speaking to an old ghost that haunted the island. She was getting off track.
The young viking went to go climb off Storm normally but she just ended up faceplanting into the ground, her body hanging in the air. Crystie just laid there for a few moments before sitting up and sputtering the frost that had ended up in her mouth.
When her vision focused, she looked around and saw that Amber, Boomerang and Ty were missing from the group. Weren't they here just a moment ago?
Crystie was perplexed "Have you guys see-"
Her question was cut off when she saw the three dragons in question dragging eels towards them; The eels were motionless as they were dragged. Crystie heard the other dragons step a few paces back as the other dragons got closer and deposited the eels at Crystie's feet. All three dragons looked up at the young viking and gave big smiles.
"Thank you guys for getting the eels, but we only need one" she thanked the dragons, picking up one of the eels and putting it in another zip up bag.
After she was done, she looked up to see Amber slurp up an entire eel while the Typhoomerang twins ate half an eel each. Crystie made a mental note that Death Songs could eat eels and were not afraid of them.
Crystie shakily stood up before standing straight "Alright, let's go".
She went to take a step but ended up faceplanting into the ground, again.
A muffled "I'm good" from Crystie as she lay there. This was going great.
A few hours later, after a bit of a struggle, they finally made it back to their island; They would've made it back sooner if Crystie hadn't nearly fallen off of Storm several times.
Crystie was inside the caves with the rest of the dragons, letting the cure take its course. She'd managed to make the cure for the dragons and herself without anything going wrong. The young viking currently in her cave, laying on the floor, with a blanket over her and using a scrunched-up blanket as a pillow.
On another note, Boomerang and Ty had come back with them to the island even though Crystie hadn't asked them too. Guess that meant they had basically adopted more children again.
Feeling relived, Crystie relaxed as she enjoyed not feeling like she was about to fall over every time she stood up but she still wanted to rest up. They would need to go back eventually and get more ingredients for eel pox, but that was future Crystie's problem; all she wanted to do now was sleep and not think about eels for a long while.
Aaaaaand that's what happened.
This was an interesting time. I do not like being sick, it is the worst; but I got better eventually. Also, having Boomerang and Ty around will be interesting as from what I've read of Typhoomerangs, they grow to be quite big so that'll be interesting to deal with.
Anyway, that's all from me
I hope we talk again soon
This is Crystie, singing out
Aaaaaand that was the chapter
Did you like it? It was interesting chapter to write
A thing I want to mention is I now have a twitter. My dumpster fire has joined the dumpster fire. I will be moving updates there as it's easier.
You can find me as Crystie Song or ChatoicViking
Anyway, that's all from me
I hope you have a nice day
This is CrystieSong, signing out