The Ice Dragon

It was the smell that woke Draylen — a scent uncommon in the Frozen Forest, yet unmistakable. A human, and not a very smart one he thought to himself as he curled his long neck to rest his head next to his scaled breast. How long had it been since a human had last stumbled into his territory? Two years? Perhaps, but he couldn’t be sure, seeing as the old dragon didn’t have much of a grasp on time anymore. Dying creatures rarely do. It wasn’t sickness or age that was killing him. It was that he had nothing to live for.

Unable to return to his dream-filled slumber, Draylen cursed the chilling wind blowing through the mouth of his cave. A low growl escaped through his once razor-sharp teeth when he tried to shield himself with his scarred wings. His annoyance slowly festered into anger, and his body reminded him of his cold-blooded nature. Nostrils flaring, he dug his claws into the ground beneath him and shot forward and then up until he was flying above the snow-capped trees. His iridescent scales change from blue to green as they caught what little sunlight shone through the clouds above. The long muscles down his spine ached with each flap of his wings as he searched for the warm-fleshed body that had woken him from his favorite part of each day — slumber.

The Frozen Forest began where the sun stopped shining, south of the rest of the world. The nearest civilization of humans was across the Depp River, nearly 100 miles north. Everything covered in snow and ice below that river was Draylen's, and it had been a long time since he'd had to remind a human of that. Opening his nostrils, he followed the musky scent and descended below the tree line. Finding the source of the smell, Draylen let out an earth-shaking roar and sank his claws into the hard-packed ice just in front of the human. Snow and ice flew from the ground, but the human did not move. Confused, Draylen roared again, louder. Snow and ice fell from the trees. Still, the human did not move. Instead, it cocked its tightly bundled head slightly to the side as if seeing a shiny toy for the first time.

Draylen had no intentions of eating the human when he had first smelled that horrid scent, but a full meal was a rare thing to find in the Frozen Forest, and a human as dumb as the one in front of him could not possibly live for more than a day in a place so cold and harsh anyway. Still, humans were soul-filled beings, and he had seen enough death in his day to know that killing any soul-filled creature would torment his own soul. So, in one last effort to scare the creature back north, Draylen filled his chest cavity, closed his eyes, and then let shards of ice fly from his mouth and stab angrily into the ground all around the human. His throat ached, not having produced ice in some time. He did his best to avoid it when he could, because all it did was remind him of when it had been fire and not ice that flew from his mouth. As the fog of snow lifted from the uproar, the human still did not run and had Draylen not blown the covering off of the human’s face, he likely would have eaten her. But now he saw that it wasn’t a human. Or it was, but not a full-grown human. A child, no more than several years old. It had been so long since he’d seen a human, he forgot how big or small they came. This one was no more than one-quarter the height of the dragon which would likely be less than half the size of a grown human.

“What are you doing here?” Draylen asked in the human tongue. What a wretched sound he thought. “Where are your parents?”

The child did not answer. Her brown eyes simply stared back into his black eyes, blinking every few seconds to shield away the snow. In them, he saw golden flakes just like… No, no one had eyes like hers. “Do you speak?”

The child nodded.

“Where are your parents?” Draylen asked again.

The child said nothing.

“How did you get here?”

Nothing.

“Are you stupid?”

The child shook her head.

Letting out a long sigh, Draylen rubbed his forehead with the back of his wing. How had she gotten here? It didn’t make sense. It would be difficult for a full-grown human trained to hunt to find their way this far into the Frozen Forest. For a child, it would be impossible. The tingle down his spine came too late. Had he grown so old that he had lost all of his instincts? How could he be so ignorant? His chest went cold as his brain finally registered the nearly silent hum of a taught bowstring at full draw. Back left shoulder. Four wing spans. Behind the uprooted tree. In an instant, he shot like a stone from a slingshot, low and quick in the direction of his back left shoulder, four wing spans away, behind the uprooted tree. His claws found the neck of a full-grown human woman, but he didn’t sink them in just yet. He pinned her against the trunk of a tree, and she dropped her bow.

Looking up, Draylen filled his chest cavity again, and this time let one singular, sharp piece of ice fly straight up into the sky. “You have until that ice sickle comes back down to explain what you’re doing in my forest. Doesn’t take long.”

“I had to make sure you wouldn’t kill her,” The woman squeaked out as fast as she could with the dragon’s hand around her throat. He stood at twice her height, and his two longest teeth were around the same length as it was from her forehead to her chin.

“Not good enough,” Draylen said, looking up, waiting for the ice to come down on the woman’s head.

“She’s like you!”

“Like me?” Draylen scoffed. “How could she be like me?”

The woman lurched to get away, but she didn’t move an inch. “She has a Fire Scale.”

Just before the shard of ice stabbed into the top of the woman’s head, Draylen released his grip, and she fell off to the side, grabbing at her throat.

Draylen stalked back to the child and ripped away the cloth from her right arm. Embedded into the skin of her forearm was a red scale that seemed to glow in the dim light of the snowy trees. Absentmindedly, he reached to his chest. It was filled with green scales except for one spot right in the center. There, in the center, there was a gap where soft flesh was exposed. His shoulders slumped, and he left the child and the woman and made his way back to his cave. Once inside his home for the last six years, he made his way to the hot spring in the back.

The warm water eased the ache of his bones and sent the chill running, but it did nothing for the memories of a life left behind that he had tried so hard to forget. Steam rose from the spring and he breathed it in and then out, remembering when he had been something special. When he and Myra Feu rode the Highlands together. Dragon and woman. Beast and beauty. Legend and Royalty. Tears began to fall from his eyes.

“She needs your help,” a voice said softly a while after the tears had stopped. Draylen had felt the woman watching him for some time, but every bit of anger he’d festered had left him. The child stood a few paces behind her, head low.

“I cannot help her,” Draylen said, sinking deeper into the spring.

The woman walked forward to stand next to him. “You’re the only one who can help her. They’re coming for her — the Sparks. They found her in Marlow. I barely escaped with her, and they’ve been tracking us south ever since.”

“It was all for nothing. They will have her, the same as all the others before her. She will join them. Fight for them. Kill people. Kill dragons.”

“That’s why you must help her. There’s a group in Centralis that exists under the city. They have taken in others like her, and they will help her to do good. To take care of people instead of burning cities. To ride dragons not kill them. The war is not over yet.”

“You don’t know that, and yes it is.”

“I do. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it, and no it’s not.”

“Why don’t you take her yourself, then?”

“How long do you think I can protect a child like her traveling on the roads from here to Centralis? Moving south is one thing, but moving north toward the capitol is suicide.”

Dralyen sighed. “She’s your daughter?”

“No. An orphan. You can tell she’s from Centralis, but she was brought south as an infant and left at the orphanage Marlow. I took her in, in hopes that I could hide her powers, but obviously, there’s only so long you can hide a fire-breathing child. She nearly burned down my entire neighborhood the day she first discovered her powers.” The woman chuckled. Draylen did not.

“What makes you think I would help her? Don’t you realize that she represents everything I hate? She’s a child with the fire of a dragon. I’m a dragon without fire.”

“I know your story, Draylen, Prince of Dragons. Steed of Myra Feu, Queen of the Highlands.”

“I have no rider. She was taken from me along with my Fire Scale,” Draylen snapped. He rose from the spring to tower over the woman. “Murdered by Sparks. My Fire Scale was lost with her, leaving me made of ice.” He made a show of breathing frost all along the walls of his cave.

“Perhaps, it’s time to find a new rider.”

“There will never be another like Myra. My Queen. Together we freed more slaves than all kings and queens before her. I cannot help you, and it’s time for you to leave. I’m nothing more than a dying creature who wants to be left to his own thoughts.”

“Has your heart grown so frozen that you have forgotten everything that Queen Myra stood for? They will kill her.” Draylen ignored her and shook the water from his scales. He moved toward the mouth of the cave, ready to fly away again, but the woman spoke again. “The leader of the group in Centralis… His name is Myrent Feu. The war is not over.”

Draylen turned slowly around. “That’s impossible. The Queen’s son is dead. Murdered with his mother and father and sister.”

“The boy survived. Your cousin Drallock rides for him. As do several other dragons that served the Queen.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Look at me,” the woman gestured to her own body. Her clothes were worn and tattered. Her face was narrow from a lack of food. She clearly hadn’t washed in weeks. “What do I have to gain from this?”

The child was light on Draylen’s back, and he worried that he might drop her if he flew too fast or turned too sharply. He wasn’t going to Centralis for her sake. He was going so that he could serve the Queen’s son. Still, he knew his late queen would want him to take care of the child, so he glided at an idle speed for most of the first stretch of their journey. As they passed over the Depp River, he felt something he hadn’t felt in years. The warmth on his scales released such a rush of happiness, it made him forget where he was and what he was doing. It was the first time he had seen the sun fully shine in six years. The first time he had felt a warmth other than his spring since his Queen died and his fire scale was left with her.

For several days, Draylen flew with the girl, circumventing major cities where Sparks would hold a strong presence or dragons allied with them might be flying. Hour by hour, she became more comfortable on the dragon’s back, and Draylen got used to the way she moved along his spine. Oddly, her movements were familiar — the way she wedged her fingers between his scales while she slept and the way she dug her heels into his back when he turned too sharply. Of course, he’d only ever had one rider, so for all he knew, that was just what humans did when they rode dragons.

She had still yet to speak to him, but he wasn’t sure she could speak at all. She did seem to understand most of the things that he said. She tightened her grip when he told her to. She nodded her head when he asked if she needed to eat or stop for any reason.

“The woman says your name is Kalei,” Draylen said as he flew. She said nothing in reply. He craned his long neck to look back at her between flaps. As he made eye contact, she looked shyly at the ground. Draylen didn’t know much about humans, but he knew that the girl was scared… nervous… or both. He thought back to when Myra had first been on his back. She too had been quiet. To comfort her, Draylen had told her stories of his family and upbringing. “Do you know anything about dragons?” He asked, hoping Kalei would also like stories. She shook her head. “What of Myra, Queen of the Highlands? Or the Sparks?” She shrugged her shoulders.

Draylen drew in a deep breath and prepared to tell a story — not just a story, but his story.

“I am Draylen, Prince of Dragons. I did not come from a royal bloodline of dragons. You see, dragons have bloodlines like queens and kings. But when I was born, I was born into a family that served blacksmiths, heating metals to help them forge swords and armor and wheels. It was a great job, for the blacksmiths in Centralis were busy men and well-respected, and it is in a dragon’s nature to serve and dwell with men. Some dragons seek to serve honorable men. Some seek to serve powerful men. Some seek to serve rich men. I always wanted to serve those who serve. The smithy was good to me, but I knew I was meant for something more.

“Queen Myra, before she was queen, was Princess Myra. From the time she was born, she had a heart of gold, and so as she grew older, she would go among the streets of Centralis and take food to the poor and listen to their stories before she became queen. One day, as she did this, she was attacked by the beginnings of a group of people that are now known as the Sparks. They had stolen the Fire Scales of many dragons and infused them into their skin so that they could release fire from their mouths and their hands. They planned to take her captive so that they could hold her hostage and have control over her father, the king. I did what any sensible dragon would do — I attacked the Sparks and saved the Queen.

“I never expected anything for what I did, but a year later, it was time for the princess to choose her dragon. Many dragons from famous bloodlines were brought before the princess, but she was not impressed. She told her father the king that none of them would do. Later that day, the king came to my smithy and brought me back to the queen. I’ll never forget the way she smiled at me. Her brown eyes had small flakes of gold in them — a true sign of royalty.

“Eventually Myra became queen of course, and I was her dragon prince. We rode to the outskirts and freed slaves. We fought off foreign attackers who tried to come and take from Centralis and the rest of the kingdom. We shared almost all of our meals, and the wedding ring that Myra wore after her wedding to her king was infused with scales from my back.”

Draylen looked back as he finished his story. The girl now met his eyes, and a small smile formed on her mouth. “Did you like my story?” He asked. She nodded.

As they continued to travel, Draylen told story after story. Some were his own, some were stories passed down. Some stories, he made up on the spot. It was likely just the fact that he hadn’t had any interactions with humans in years, but he felt himself growing quite fond of the girl. He had set out to take her to Centralis for the sake of the queen’s son, but now he felt drawn to the girl. The way she smiled at him was familiar.

As they neared Centralis, Draylen grew uneasy. The woman from the forest had told him that Myrent and his loyalists had taken back the Ivy Keep, and that’s where he should take the girl. The issue with that was that the Ivy Keep was as close to the center of the city as possible. There would be trouble. Sparks and their traitor dragons would certainly see him coming.

“What happened to the Queen?” The question caught Draylen so off guard that his heart nearly stopped. The girl’s voice was quiet and kind.

“What?” Draylen asked dumbly.

“You never finished your first story. What happened to the queen?”

Draylen pondered whether or not to tell her the truth. She was only a child. But then again, in only a few hours' time, she would be thrust into a war.

“Together we defended the kingdom from so many enemies, but it was the one that grew right under our noses that killed her. The Sparks wanted power, and they found it in the scales of dragons. They traded gold for their Fire Scales, of which dragons only have one. Without it, they turn to creatures of ice instead of fire, and as such are no longer useful creatures. Fire can help build, but what can ice do? If the Sparks could not bribe a dragon out of their Fire Scale, they would kill them. Some dragons joined with the Sparks and were allowed to keep their fire.

“The beginning of the war was bad, but nothing will be as dark as the day they killed my queen. When the Sparks came for the Queen, I did everything I could to defend her. In the chaos, the queen was burned so badly, that it was clear she would die. I helped her escape deeper into the castle, where her son and newborn daughter were as well, but it was too late.

“Now, the thing to know about Fire Scales is that they not only can give humans the ability to breathe fire, but they have healing properties as well.” Draylen paused and looked back at Kalei’s arm. “So, desperate to save my queen I tore the Fire Scale from my chest and dug it into her arm. To give her one more chance at life, I left her there, waiting for the powers to sink in while I went to kill as many Sparks as possible. Only, I wasn’t as powerful with ice as I had been with fire, and as any man knows, fire melts ice every time. A few hours later, I was beaten and bloody, and all of it was in vain. The Sparks had taken the castle, and the lifeless body of my queen was carried out, lifted high for the whole city to see, along with her husband beside her. The Fire Scale was gone, and the children not to be seen.”

Kalei patted the dragon's back with a tenderness only possible from a child.

As Centralis approached in the distance, Draylen saw the first sign of the enemy. It was just a spec in the distant sky, no bigger than a bird would appear. But at an unrealistic pace, the shape grew. Another dragon. The first that Draylen had seen in years. It was younger and bigger than Draylen himself. On its back rode a man in a red cloak — A Spark.

“Give us the girl,” The Spark shouted from the back of his own dragon. They knew he was coming. Other specs were appearing in the distance. The city had changed since Draylen had last been there. Many buildings had been burned to dust. People weren’t freely walking in the streets. Statues of past kings and queens were missing.

“No,” is all Draylen said as he flapped down with his wings as hard as he could, trying to get away.

Fire shot from the other dragon’s mouth and the Spark’s hands as well. Draylen swerved right, hoping against hope that Kalei would hold on and lean into his turns. She did. Draylen flew as fast as he could toward the center of the city. He could see the Ivy Keep in the distance, but he had no idea where to go once he was over the gates. A problem for later.

Wind dried his eyes as he flapped as hard as he could to get away from the other dragon, but he wasn’t fast enough. The fire caught on his tail, and he had to turn his head and slow his speed to blow ice on it and put it out. To make matters worse, another of the dragons reached him from the castle. He was riderless and narrowly missed his first attack on Draylen. This was how it would end, and he knew it. But to his surprise, Kalei did not try to hide against his scales. Fire erupted from her on his back, so hot it was blue. The anger of a child is a dangerous thing. It blew back the riderless dragon far enough that Draylen was able to gain stability and survey the approaching threats. As the dragon with the rider caught back up, Draylen surprised them by turning to fight. He sank his claws into the beast, and it screeched out in pain. Kalei shot more fire at it, blinding it until the Spark fell from the dragon and crashed down below.

The riderless dragon came back and blew a stream of fire straight at Draylen’s face. He responded with as much ice as he could, but it wasn’t quite enough. His face got burned, and his sight went fuzzy. By the time he regained it, it was too late to see the castle tower. His right wing clipped it, and he felt bones break. He slid along the tiled roof, doing his best to wrap Kalei in his wings. When he stopped, she was fine, but he was not. The pain was everywhere, and the crash into the castle must have brought out more Sparks and dragons, because now the sky was filled.

The first riderless dragon was the first to reach him. Draylen filled himself with the coldest ice he had ever produced as he sat up on the roof and shoved Kalei behind himself. He let it all out, and it ate through the other dragon’s fire and froze him solid. He crashed next to Draylen and broke into pieces like a glass vase. It was nothing more than a small delay of death though as nearly half a dozen other dragons approached, each with Sparks on their back. Draylen did his best to fight them off, and Kalei shot as much blue fire as he’d ever seen a Spark produce, but an army of two is no army at all. Draylen’s right wing was engulfed in flames, and he could feel himself running out of the strength he needed to create ice.

The largest of all the dragons hovered over him, and its belly glowed red as it produced the killing shot. Draylen did not close his eyes this time. He stared death in the face. But it was death that died. Another dragon whooshed over Draylen’s head and sank its teeth into the other one. On its back rode the face of a man that Draylen had only known as a boy. The Queen’s son.

“Where have you been you old dragon,” Myrent shouted as he rode Draylen’s cousin Drallock. The two of them ate through the other dragons just as Draylen and Queen Myra had done at the beginning of the war.

“Been busy dying,” Draylen shouted back in a mad laugh. Drallock circled back with Myrent and landed next to him and Kalei.

“Can you fly, cousin?” Drallock asked.

“Time to find out.”

With just enough sky cleared to escape, Drallock lifted off with Kalei and Myrent on his back. Draylen followed behind. Drallock flew over the Ivy Keep. It was a strong castle, but it would not be enough to hold back the oncoming dragons. Still, Draylen followed. Drallock disappeared just behind one of the walls where a dark hole opening into the ground was hidden. Draylen squeezed through it and crashed into the ground beneath. The woman from the forest had not been lying. Myrent had literally been underground. Some of Myrent’s men sealed the hole by rolling a huge stone under it.

Exhausted, Draylen faded out of consciousness. When he woke, Myrent stood next to him, and Kalei was by his side.

“Are you okay?” Myrent asked.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse.” Myrent nodded and called for medics. “How… how are you alive?”

“My mother came for me after you had given her the Fire Scale. She led me down here, to the underground city. Me and my sister. King’s aids found us shortly after and raised me down here.”

“Sister?” Draylen asked dumbly. “Is she alive as well?”

“Yes, I believe you’ve met.” Draylen turned to look at Kalei “The aids weren’t fit to take care of a newborn, so she was sent as far away as possible to give her the best chance at life. Don’t you recognize your own Fire Scale? It saved her life that day.” Draylen stared at the Queen’s daughter. How did he not see it before? The golden flakes in her eyes. The way she moved. Her dark hair. She was his rider’s daughter. “I know it’s been some time since you’ve had a rider, but my sister could use a dragon, and we have a war to win.”

For the first time in six years, Draylen had something to live for.