Icewing Grotto

Frost gathered on my wings as I soared through the late autumn sky. The leaves of the forest’s trees blazed with an array of red, orange, and yellow. Soon the frost would come and finish off the trees and their leaves would shrivel up and fall to the forest floor. Unlike most others of my kind, I absolutely loved the late autumn and winter seasons. The cold air felt amazing as it rushed past my scaled body and wings. Unlike most dragons in this region, I was an ice dragon, built for the ice and snow of the arctic tundra to the far north. How I ended up in a forest this far south even I didn’t know. I never knew my parents, as a local fire drake tribe who told me they stumbled upon my egg in a random grotto at the edge of the forest hatched me. They knew a young dragon on their own would never survive, especially if they wandered too close to the nearby human settlement. Humans and dragons never had the best relationship with each other, but recently that relationship had been strained even further. There was a human king who had been a particularly greedy fellow who believed he could trick the fire drake tribe into doing his bidding. The fire drakes obviously had no desire to be enslaved by the humans. Resolution of the conflict occurred when the king attacked the leader of the fire drakes, who swiftly incinerated him. While most of the peasantry in that settlement argued it was a good thing the king was dead, the king’s son swore vengeance upon any dragon he saw from that day forward. So the fire drakes retreated further into the woods, away from the human settlement, and further away from the grotto in which they found me.

Now that I was an adult dragon, I didn’t require the tribe’s help when hunting or exploring. I stayed with them mostly because I appreciate the feeling of belonging somewhere. My greatest fear is that I will someday die completely alone. But surely the day of my death is a very long way off. One of my favorite places in the entire forest to explore is the grotto in which I was hatched. I have taken to calling it Icewing Grotto, after the name of my species, according to the fire drakes. As an Icewing dragon, I am larger than the fire drakes and instead of the metallic red, almost rust colored, scales they have, mine are the same bluish white as the glaciers of the northern tundra. My wings spread twice as far as the drakes, and my teeth and claws are much larger as well. Another fundamental difference between us is our eyes. Fire drakes have golden eyes, probably why humans accuse them of hoarding gold, and Icewing dragons have white eyes like freshly fallen snow. Humans are typically amazed when they meet an Icewing for the first time because they foolishly believe all dragons breathe fire. However, my breath is the sheer icy wind of winter storms and can instantly freeze a human.

I was nearing Icewing Grotto when I heard something very curious. It was a sharp cry and wail on the wind. I quickly searched the ground and at first glance, saw nothing. But after hearing the cry more distinctly, I tracked it to a large maple tree, the largest in the forest in fact. Curious and worried that something may need help, I flew towards the tree. The crying grew louder as I approached the tree, and that’s when I saw an ornate basket at the bottom of the tree. I landed as gently as I could and shook handfuls of leaves from the maple and other surrounding trees. As I sniffed the air I could smell something very distinct. The smell of human was everywhere around this tree, but ‌it came most strongly from the basket itself. I cautiously looked inside of the basket. A tiny human cried loudly inside the basket. Once it caught sight of me, however, it calmed down and looked at me with wonder in its tiny eyes.

“Hello small human, my name is Zapada. I am a protector of these woods. Why are you here?” I spoke to the child inside of its mind, trying to get any answer at all. The images I could see inside of its mind were random and jumpy. Thoughts of food, warmth, and an impressive wooden cradle to sleep in were mixed with fond memories of a beautiful red-haired woman and fearful memories of a dark-haired man. A mother and father, I assumed. Suddenly, the child’s thoughts played like a story. The red-haired woman was very ill, could barely speak or stand. The dark-haired man got furious and stormed out of the building. She spoke lovingly to the child and carried it to an ornate basket. Mother and child walked a long way from the settlement until they reached this maple tree. The child has been calling out for its mother for a couple of hours now.

“Hush now child, please try to rest. I will search for your mother and either bring you back to her or will find you a place to stay here in the forest.” I spoke to the child again.

Upon hearing my voice inside its mind, the child calmed down and drifted to sleep. At least it wasn’t afraid of me. That would be an excellent thing if what I feared was true. I gently grabbed the basket with my mouth, being careful not to disturb or hurt the child. I tried looking around from the ground at first. That woman looked very weak and couldn’t have gone very far. I ended up strolling to the grotto, the smell of the woman was strongest in that direction. Upon entering, I found the woman. She looked very close to death as I brought the child close to her.

“My name is Zapada,” I told her in the human’s language. “I found your child underneath a nearby tree.”

“My name is Amaranth, my baby girl’s name is Aster. I didn’t want to abandon her in the forest, but I knew she’d die in Midhollow.” Amaranth was surprisingly good at telepathy for a human.

“How could the human settlement be any worse for a child than the wilderness? I asked, suddenly concerned.

“Her father is King Merek, but I am not his wife. My family was brought here from the north to be servants to the royal family. I had kept Aster hidden for a while, but King Merek found out and was going to have me and the baby put to death before anyone could find out about his affair. This was the only chance for Aster,” Amaranth explained.

A deep sadness mixed with anger spread through my body. Humans were not only cruel enough to be unfaithful to their life partners, but to kill a woman and child to cover up one’s own weakness was beyond deplorable. Men like this King Merek were why dragons despised humans more than any other race in the land.

“I will take Aster and attempt to raise her among the fire drakes if that is your wish, Miss Amaranth, but I do not know how to raise children, even less human children. I will do my best since you have put so much faith in me,” I tried to reassure her as best I could.

“Thank you honorable Zapada, I knew some day my family’s abilities would be useful. I am glad to have met such an honorable and powerful dragon as you. I really…” Amaranth trailed off, and I could feel the spark of life in her grow dim.

Fifteen years have passed, and young Aster has grown into a very remarkable human. She quickly learned survival and hunting skills. Her preferred weapon was the bow and she could easily track and kill any prey necessary to sustain life. I taught her human speech as best I could, but the few times she interacted with humans she forgot that they don’t speak telepathically. The powers of which Amaranth spoke of were slowly starting to reveal themselves. Aster gained the power to freeze things, summon storms, and heal wounds. The poor girl attempted many times to resurrect her mother, but as I told her, resurrection only works when the soul has recently departed, but that still never kept her from trying. Poor little Aster was completely obsessed with her mother and what happened to her. After discussing with the fire drakes, I decided not to tell her about her father, at least not until I thought she could handle the information.

We were staying in the grotto. I fixed the place up and made it suitable for human habitation and dragon habitation. I cleaned the cave, made furniture for Aster, and I made a very respectful shrine to Amaranth. She deserved that much, at least. The furniture took some effort for me to get the hang of making, and I had to keep increasing the size of it as Aster grew. She had become quite beautiful and looked exactly like her mother had. I feared for the day a passing human recognized her. She had gained many powers, but she had very little control over all of them.

One fateful and unfortunate day, a hunter chasing his quarry slipped and hurt himself near the grotto. He loudly crashed into the clearing near the maple tree in front of our home. His voice was loud and sharp as he exclaimed first from the fall and later from the pain. Before I could stop her, Aster ran outside to aid the poor fool. As she used her healing magic to mend his broken bones, he said that she looked very familiar. He told her she looked like a woman the king had brought from the northern kingdom to serve in his court as a healer. She had mysteriously disappeared years ago, amongst rumors that she had been pregnant with the king’s child. Aster got very quiet and went to her room without saying a word to anyone. I knew this would not end well. I asked the fire drakes to assist the hunter back to his camp while I took care of Aster.

“Aster? Are you ok?” I asked her from the opening to her chamber.

“Did you know? Were you aware that my father was the king?” She asked back quietly.

“Your mother had informed me before she passed away,” I admitted.

“He killed her didn’t he?” Aster asked angrily.

“I don’t know that for certain,” I lied, “But he definitely wanted her and you dead.”

I didn’t really want to tell her the truth, because I was afraid she would act rashly and throw her life away, but at the same time I figured she deserved to know a bit more than I had told her. I let her know that her mother had been brought from a foreign land, apparently the same land my people come from although I have never been there, to serve King Merek. King Merek and her mother had an affair which yielded a child, young Aster. Her mother had managed to hide her for almost a year before King Merek had discovered her. Upon this discovery the king attempted to kill them both. Amaranth had barely managed to save them both and get away from the settlement before she collapsed here, later succumbing to her wounds. I explained how I don’t have any healing magic myself and the only thing I could do was attempt to raise her and give her mother a nice memorial. After I had finished my tale, Aster stopped talking. I figured it was best to leave her alone, so I decided to go out hunting. I would later regret this decision.

As I was bringing my fresh kill back to the grotto, I sensed something was very wrong. The winds had changed direction several times and had gone from somewhat warm to ice cold. I called out to the fire drakes, and my call was answered in minutes. They informed me that a large amount of ice magic was coming from the human settlement, and they were getting as far away from it as possible to avoid getting caught up in it. Ice magic could kill fire drakes after all. I knew immediately that Aster was the one causing this, probably trying to avenge her mother.

The wind was howling and snow and ice fell from the skies in droves as I approached the settlement. Already humans were being frozen in place, looking like ice sculptures with amazing detail. If this didn’t stop soon the foolish girl was going to kill herself alongside them. I rushed to the castle which was the center of the storm. King Merek and Aster were locked in a magical duel. He had fire magic apparently and it was matching her ice magic. I knew she had more power than he did, dragons are very sensitive to mana usage, but he had significantly greater control than she did. Upon seeing me I saw fear enter the king’s face, and he decided to end the battle in order to try and escape. As I entered the courtyard and called out to Aster, King Merek stopped his spell and rushed her with his blade. She looked in my direction, as his sword plunged deep into her chest, killing her instantaneously.

Upon watching my little Aster be killed, I lost it. I used my breath, the coldest I’ve ever managed before, and King Merek and what was left of his kingdom was frozen in seconds. I smashed the king and his men before finally gaining my composure. I brought young Aster’s body to the grotto and gave her a memorial right next to her mother. My heart was broken, I never intended to care about humans or their stupid squabbles, but it happened nonetheless. Aster’s storm raged on, and showed no signs of stopping. Nothing would survive this storm, everything in this area would become ice and snow. I called out one last time to the fire drakes to tell them what had happened and to tell them not to bother to come back to this area, as it would never be habitable for them again.

When they asked me what I was going to do, I simply told them “I am going to be memorialized alongside my family.”

Many years have passed and humans and dragons alike still avoid the area that has become known as Icewing Glacier. Humans argued what had caused the frozen tundra to spread so far south, most of the northern and central parts of the world were now encased and ice and snow. Only the fire drakes knew the truth, that a magical ice storm powered by deep emotional pain had spun out of control. Only they knew the truth about the last of the northern mages and the last Icewing dragon.