Chapter Nineteen
Luck of the Dragons
“HEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!” Lillian yelled.
“What the hell are you doing? We are on the side of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere. Who’s going to hear you?” Ryhan screamed at her.
“Do you have any better ideas?” Lillian asked her.
Ryhan paused a moment and then yelled, “Heeeeelllllppp!”
They both yelled until their voices were hoarse and neither of them saw much point in continuing. She was not sure how they were going to get out of their mess. There was barely enough room for them to stand and they huddled close to keep warm.
Lillian had suggested Ryhan make a fire, but there really was not room. The best she could do is hold a small flame in her hand, but it didn’t stand much of a chance against the wind that was beating their backs. It was impossible to tell how long they had been standing up there. The air was thin and left her feeling light headed. Difficult situations had never caused her to falter before, but their situation was getting grimmer by the second.
If they did not plummet to the ground, they would surely freeze to death. A small cave might have been enough to keep them alive, for the night at least, but she was not sure if she should attempt creating one. Trying something was better than nothing was and she started focusing her energy when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
It flitted by quickly and she could barely make out a bit of color. Whatever it was, it seemed too large to be a bird.
“Did any of you see that?” She asked the others.
“See what?” Alex asked curiously.
“It was an animal or something.” Lillian said hesitantly, suddenly doubting what she saw.
The others looked at her with confusion and started looking around. Just outside of her vision, she saw something fly by again.
“There.” She said and pointed in the direction it went.
They looked and shook their heads when they saw nothing. She was beginning to think that she was losing her mind. Several minutes passed and nothing happened. Deciding not to let the mysterious object distract her any longer, she focused on growing the ledge they were standing on. When it was about four and a half feet wide, she collapsed on to her knees.
“My energy is really depleted, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make the cave.” Lillian said exhausted.
“It must be the thin air and cold, its taking more energy just to keep our bodies going.” Evangeline said.
“Here, let us help you.” Alex took her hand and grabbed Evangeline as well, nodding at Ryhan to do the same.
Ryhan hesitated but followed their lead and took their hands. Lillian felt their energy meld in to hers, she felt stronger, but not by much. They were growing weak too and she tried not to think about what might happen to them. It took a bit longer than normal and the best she could manage was a small three-foot hollow in the snow and rock.
It was not much, but it at least got them out of the wind and gave them a moment to think about something other than staying warm. They sat down closely, linking arms and leaning against the back wall. It was warmer, but only by a few degrees.
“So what now?” Ryhan asked.
“Now, we take turns resting and conserving our energy, and in the morning we figure out how to get down from this mountain.” Evangeline said with authority, then added, “You all sleep first, and I’ll keep watch.”
Lillian had been having a strange dream about bats flying above the ocean and weird sea snakes that jumped out of the water and ate the bats, when she woke. She was thankful to leave that dream; it was creepier than she cared to deal with at that moment. Glancing at the others, she realized that Evangeline had also dozed off. Shifting up a bit, she made herself more alert, when something caught her eye.
Just outside the cave there was something perched on the ledge. The sun was setting so it was difficult to make out what it was. It looked to be about the size of a child, maybe four feet in height. The creature had to be what she had saw earlier, and it definitely was not a bird. Careful not to wake her, she leaned Ryhan against Evangeline, and crawled toward the animal to get a better look.
Its back was toward her and she did not want to startle it. There were colorful scales on its back. Easing closer, she reached out her hand to touch it but hesitated.
Do not be afraid.
She pulled her hand back. The creature had spoken to her, through telepathy, she was sure of it. At that moment, it turned to face her. It was unlike anything she had seen before. Its eyes were round and brilliant, a light grey that glistened like melting ice. Its head reminded her of a large lizard, but instead of rough scales, its skin was soft and sinewy.
The small hairs that covered its skin were a peachy taupe color. It sat upright, resting on its hind legs, its front legs on the ground in front of it balancing its upper body. It reminded her instantly of the way that a dog might sit, or even a squirrel. Its hind paws were very flat with five long toes, each with a long curved claw.
Its front paws looked more like small hands with four fingers and a thumb, but they also had sharp claws at the end. It reached out its hand to her and revealed a large wing like appendage. A thin membrane formed the surface of the ‘wing’ and ran from the tip of the outer digits, uniting the forelimb with the body.
A beautiful and brightly colored pattern with shades of gold and deep purples made up the inside of the wing. It was apparent that the creature was an exceptional climber and even better glider. Amazed she almost forgot that it had extended its hand to her. She reached out and touched its small palm with hers. A rush of images flowed through her head.
“You’re a dragon!” Lillian exclaimed.
It was as if all the images she had seen made her understand who and what the creature was.
My name is Kalinth.
“I am Lillian. You speak through telepathy. Can you see what is in my mind as well?”
I know what you are thinking and feeling, however, human emotion is difficult for dragons to process. Your intentions and actions are often very different. It is easy to misjudged humans because of that.
“May I touch you?”
Kalinth paused for a moment, and then answered. You may.
After closer examination, Lillian realized that the colored pattern of her wings was actually tiny soft and pigmented scales. Much in the same way as a butterfly.
“Can you breathe fire?” She asked excitedly.
Instead of answering with words, Kalinth arched her head back and took a deep breath, her nostrils flaring. Lillian was not sure if she should move or stand very still. When she exhaled, a warm dense cloud erupted from her mouth.
“That’s like what Ryhan and Alex do together.” She said.
It is very convenient for concealing yourself. We dragons can also manipulate the wind. We do not fly exactly, we glide, but our abilities make us very fast and agile in the sky.
“Well I certainly wish that we had your ability. I have no idea how we are going to get down from here.”
You do not need to go down. You need to climb up. Volcaringuard is just over the next ridge.
“But how will we-.” Lillian stopped when Kalinth made a strange face. It took her a moment to realize she was smiling.
A moment later, several more dragons glided down and rested next to Kalinth. They varied in color, some black with silvery patterned wings, others white with blue and green markings. Among them was a young girl about her age, wide eyed and full of energy. The girl smiled at her as she ran her hand through her short blonde hair.
Cut close to her head in the back, she had long sweeping bangs in the front and a feather tied in to her hair, it was purple with a golden tip. She was wearing tight fitting leather pants and a leather vest over long sleeves. Fur lined boots were laced up to her knees. Lillian found herself wishing for similar warm clothes.
“Victoria?” Lillian took a guess.
“Yep, that would be me!” She exclai
med.
“But how did you know we were here?” Lillian asked.
“I heard someone screaming for help. Sound bounces off these mountains like a ball. So I sent my friends here to scout out your location. Good thing we found you when we did, you all look like you are about froze up here.” Victoria said amused.
Lillian was not one to get angry very easily, but Victoria’s flippant attitude really irked her. Perhaps it was because she felt guilty for getting them into the mess to begin with, but at that moment, she just wanted to get out of it.
“Think we should wake them up?” Victoria giggled, and then walked over to the others.
She shook them hard and Lillian was about to protest, but Ryhan beat her to the punch.
“What? Who the hell are you?” Ryhan asked cautiously.
She knew there was a reason she liked Ryhan, she thought to herself. Lillian quickly filled them in, telling them as much as she could about the dragons and about Victoria. Not that there was much to tell on the later subject. The girl just falls from the sky as if it is nothing and wakes everyone up like they were just taking an afternoon nap.
Who did she think she was? Everyone said their quick hellos, and gave a short introduction. Lillian noticed that Alex was especially quiet and made a mental note to ask her about it later.
“Okay, so everyone ready?” Victoria asked.
“Ready for?” Lillian asked her warily.
“To climb of course. There is a dragon for each of you. They agreed to help transport you all to the top, but you’ll have to walk from there.” Victoria said.
As if they should all just hop on a dragon like they had done it their whole life.
“How exactly do we do that?” Lillian asked.
Victoria reached into a satchel she had brought and pulled out four harnesses. She showed them how to put them on, and then demonstrated how they worked. Two long straps went around the shoulders and legs of the dragon and connected in the middle of its back. There were two small pegs to stand on and two circular straps that looped around your wrists.
She was at least a head taller, if not more, than the dragon. Therefore, she had to position herself in a crunched up way. With her wrists through the straps, her knees by her elbows and her feet pushing down hard onto the pegs, Lillian closed her eyes and hoped that Kalinth could carry her weight the whole way up.
It was not as bad as she thought it would be. Besides the fear of falling at any moment to her death, the dragons climbed with ease and they reached the top without incident. She thanked Kalinth before she wandered off with the other dragons.
“What a thrill huh?” Victoria said as she nudged her with her elbow.
Lillian just glared at her.
Victoria did not wait for a response, “Okay then, just follow me everyone. Volcaringuard is just a short distance, then we will get you all warmed up with some food in your belly.”
They all followed her, silently. Lillian was not sure if it was because they were in shock or just trying to find the energy to continue on, but no one said a word. Which hardly mattered since Victoria rarely stopped talking. She chattered on idly about how great it was to fly with dragons and how she could not believe they were not excited about it.
Lillian found herself concentrating more on the sound of her footsteps then Victoria’s voice. After everything that had happened to her in the last week, she was ready for a soft bed.