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Falling Fire Arts and Sciences "Put another log on the fire will ya Calman."
"We don't have any more logs Lounar" Calman replied softly.
"Well then let's put Joname on the fire. He's sleeping. He won't know." Lounar replied.
"Be reasonable Lounar," said Calman as he peered at his shivering friend with a small sign of disgust at Lounar’s comment.
"I am being reasonable. My moccasins are frozen to my feet. There are icicles hanging off my eyebrows. I'm just trying to keep warm!" snapped Lounar.
Calman once again spoke softly, peering at the small fire in front of him. "Stop complaining Lounar. It's summer. And there are no icicles hanging from your eyebrows."
"Well, it feels like there are" Lounar answered back not even realizing that his friend wasn’t even looking at him. "Summer. Ha! Since when do you break your tooth on a lima bean because it's frozen solid! Middle of summer my left..."
"I SAW IT! I SAW IT!!!" The screaming came from a heavily cloaked figure running into the campsite.
"Quiet Yelnar. You'll wake up Joname."
"Sorry Calman. But I saw it. On the mountain."
"What did you see Yelnar? Wait! Quietly. Quietly, tell me what you saw" said Calman as he adjusted his clothing to prevent the small frigid breeze from hitting his skin.
"Probably something else frozen." Lounar interjected sarcastically.
"Lounar." was Calman’s one word response to the comment.
"Fine, I’ll shut up now." Lounar mumbled as he lowered his head into his cloak.
"Well Yelnar?" Calman asked again.
"Oh yeah. A dragon. A giant dragon on top of Mount Summit"
Once again Lounar could not resist. "Well there goes the neighborhood."
"Lounar. Do I have to knock you unconscious again." Calman replied trying to convince Lounar to listen.
"Hey, my head still hurts from that." Lounar whimpered.
"Keep it up and you'll have matching bumps." Calman was starting to get annoyed.
"Come on guys. Don't you want to hear about my dragon?" , said Yelnar feeling somewhat left out of the conversation, even though he had such incredible news.
"YOUR dragon? What did you do, adopt him?" said Lounar
"No, no brother. I saw him. When I was gathering wood for us tonight."
"Uh huh. You saw him while you were gathering. Hey!! Where's the wood!?!" Lounar spoke as he jumped up from the frozen log.
"I left it at the bottom of the mountain. I had to get back here to tell you about the dragon." Yelnar replied innocently.
"Nothing??? You didn't bring anything back with you?" Lounar said in disbelief.
"You see the dragon went"
"IDIOT!! MORON!!!" Lounar was visibly and audibly upset at this point.
"Lounar" said Calman in a low, stern voice.
"But..."
"You expect me to sit here and freeze to death because you saw some measly little dragon?" yelled Lounar.
"Lounar" repeated Calman as he slowly reached for his club. His voice was even deeper now.
Yelnar could barely get a word in. "But I..."
"Have you been chewing on the shehash weeds again you sadistic, good for nothing..."
<Bonk> Lounar fell silent, and fell back on the frozen log from which he leapt to scream at his brother.
"Oooh. Thanks Calman. He's gonna feel that in the morning", Yelnar said as he squinted, just imagining the pain his brother must be in right now. Two hits in two days.
"I really hate when you do that", said Lounar in a very low, angry tone. "What is so special about this beast that I’ve had to get another bump on my head"
"He’s turning the land to ice" Yelnar proclaimed.
"He’s what?" replied Lounar, knowing exactly what was said but not quite believing it.
"He’s turning the land to ice. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. He’s sitting on the mountain breathing out some kind of ice breath that is turning everything frozen."
"I thought dragon’s breathed fire."
"Well, maybe he’s a special dragon."
Lounar quickly looked over at Calman just in time to see him reach for the club again.
"Ok. Let’s just assume he is a special dragon," Lounar said calmly, afraid of receiving another bump from sarcasm. "If he’s turning the land to ice, let’s go kill him so we can get back to normal temperatures."
"Well said my friend" responded Calman. "But I doubt we could kill a dragon."
"If we get Joname to shoot his arrows at it from the front, we can sneak behind it and kill it."
"Great plan Lounar. I’m sure Joname would have no problem being dragon bait. Why don’t you run that plan by him." Calman now sarcastically uttered.
"Fine, I will. Hey! Joname! Get your lazy self up. We got a job for you."
There was no response to Lounar’s comment. Joname just lay there ignoring him.
"HEY!! Wake up already!"
Lounar kicked Joname in his bad knee, as he would often do just to hear the girlish yelp of the wounded archer. Nothing. Lounar looked over at Calman, who already seemed to understand the situation.
"Calman?" Lounar said quietly, softly. There was no sarcasm in his voice this time. Only the hint of choking back a tear. Calman got up and slowly walked over to the still body lying near the fire. He reached over and placed his hand on Joname’s neck. He closed his eyes as stood up. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes to see the twins staring at him, searching for a handle on the moment as if Calman were wearing it. Calman turned and walked over to his equipment. As he searched for his shovel, he quietly said "Well, Lounar. I guess you could have put him on the fire." Lounar swallowed hard, as if to almost swallow his foot, boot and all. He got his composure and quietly told his brother "Tomorrow, we go after that dragon. We’ll put an end to this madness."
"And that's when the land was known as Icadia, the land of perpetual ice."
"Tell us more grandpa."
"Well Mary. It's time for you and Cha Cha to go to sleep." You will both be very busy in the morning."
"I don't want to go to sleep. I want to hear more stories."
"Well, I guess maybe one more story. But you better not let this affect your studies tomorrow. You've got a lot more to know about the powers of healing."
"It won't." Cha Cha said innocently.
"Ok then. Let me see. Ah yes. Back when I was a boy, not too far from your age Cha Cha, I was told by MY grandfather, the story of how the ice melted and the land became as it is now. This is what happened..."
"There were these four travelers. They had set up camp one night out in the forest. One of them was already asleep. His name was Joname. Two others were huddled close to the extremely small fire which was slowly dying, from both the cold and the lack of something to burn."
"Uh grandpa?"
"Yes Mary?"
"I think we heard this story already."
"Really? Who told you this story child?"
"You did" said Cha Cha.
"Hmm. I think you’re right. I wonder why I didn’t remember that? Oh well, it’s probably nothing. So where was I?"
"You were gonna tell us about how the ice got all melted, grandpa."
"Ah yes. At least you’ve got a good head on your shoulders Mary."
"Now let’s see."
The twins were up early. The sun barely peaked over the horizon but it was enough light to burn your eyes as the rays bounced off the glistening ice. It was time to destroy the winter. And to do it, they would need to destroy the source. Not the seasons or the sun. But a living, breathing creature of such gargantuan proportions it seemed almost incomprehensible before morning coffee. As they packed up the site and prepared to search for what would be their destiny or their doom, Yelnar spoke of what he witnessed the eve before. Calman and Lounar listened closely, carefully. Yelnar spoke in low, soft tone like telling of a legend around a campfire to scare the kids. But this legend was frighteningly true.
"It was big. Big is not even a big enough word to describe it. It sat perched up on the hill. I saw it spread it’s wings. They were huge. You could of laid 150 men longways in front of that beast and it’s wingspan would still be longer. It had big black eyes. Dead eyes. If it wasn’t moving you would have thought it was dead. It blew ice from its mouth. Sheets of ice formed on the land where it’s breath hit the ground. Everything froze. Everything died. The trees, the plants, you could even see butterflies frozen in mid-flight, then crash to the ground and shatter like glass. It was a horrible sight. But it was magnificent. Unbelievable. Amazing. Frightening. All rolled into one emotion at the same time."
The two men just listened as they packed. Although in disbelief, but knowing that Yelnar could never make up a story like this, they were forced to believe, just as they were forced to shiver to keep from Joname’s fate. As snow began lightly falling, the group headed east. Yelnar continued describing his account of the great beast as they walked.
"From its head to its tail it was a light blue and white. Even though cold is just a feeling, if cold was something tangible, something you could see and touch, then this creature was it. It WAS cold."
As they all trekked through the snow, which was coming down heavier now, Calman and Lounar daydreamed of the dragon. With Yelnar’s story fresh in their minds, they thought about finding the creature, seeing it with their own eyes, and then killing it. Saving themselves, their friends, the entire region if not the world. Two separate men dreaming the exact same thing at the exact same time. Except Calman’s dream lingered at the thought of the dragon’s demise. How he would do it. Making the beast suffer, just as he suffered now. A tear rolled down his cheek but crystalized before even reaching his beard. He thought of Joname. How he had buried him the eve before. He felt the numbness in his fingers which were so cold they hurt. But he felt more anger than pain. The dragon. Kill the dragon. Destroy the dragon. Obliterate that damn dragon!!!
In an instance Calman’s head was pressed into the dirt. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak. He peered up the hill he was now pressed up against. It only took a second for him to stop struggling for oxygen. That’s when he noticed the shadow. Not his friends shadow. Not some small woodland creature. The shadow of the thought on his mind. The dragon.
Amazed at the magnificent size of the creature, Calman tried to stand up to get a better look. When he realized he couldn’t stand, he reached over and slapped Lounar in the forehead.
"Get off me!" yelled Calman. "Shhh!!! Do you want him to find us?" Lounar whispered loudly. "Why’d you hit me in the head. I was just trying to save you from being lunch!" Lounar exclaimed.
"Shhh!!! Do you want him to find us?" Yelnar replied as he stared toward the sky at the winged beast.
The three men watched in amazement as the giant dragon circled above, as if surveying the landscape, and then finally came to rest high upon a hill not too far off from where the three hunters spied. The dragon stretched its wings to the fullest and then brought them back in close as it nestled its head between them for an afternoon slumber in its new icy homeland.
The next step was to figure out how to kill the creature. Perhaps, a step that should have been discussed before finding the 800 foot wide beast. "Lounar spoke first. "It’s sleeping now. We could sneak up and, and, ... And what? It would be like a mosquito biting an elephant. Come to think of it, we haven’t had any mosquito’s around since it got cold. Maybe the cold’s not such a bad thing after all."
"Let’s try to stay focused here Lounar" replied Calman. "Remember the icicles on your eyebrows. Moreover, remember Joname." In unison, the twins lowered their heads and fell silent at the mention of their departed friend. "We need to figure out how to kill it. Figure it out fast and kill it fast" Calman continued.
"We would need an army Calman; A hundred armies even to kill that monster!" Yelnar interjected.
As the three men bickered over how to destroy their enemy, a loud thunder shook the land. A storm perhaps? No. The noise was deafening to the point of nausea. Calman struggled to regain his senses and find the source of the sound. It only took a glance to find the origin of the piercing noise. It was the dragon. No more calm slumber for the gargantuan. It was being attacked!! A half a dozen ice creatures had sneaked across the frozen land to the dragon’s resting place, the same place Yelnar had seen it the day before.
The sound of screams, the sight of ice, the smell of blood, all overwhelmed the senses of the trio. As the battle continued, the men could not even move, neither away from the battle to safety, or towards the fight to help the mysterious group that attacked the sleeping dragon. All they could do was watch and wait.
The dragon tried to fly but was held fast on the hill. They couldn’t see what did so. They could only tell that the creature was grounded. As they stared at the battle like they were hypnotized, they could make out some of the attackers. A few creatures seemed to be giant lumps of ice moving about. As if the frozen earth decided to reclaim itself by coming to life and destroying that which froze its wonderfully green pastures. A two headed creature, small in stature compared to the dragon but many times that of man, was also attacking the dragon. And in the background, what seemed to be a woman made of snow screaming unintelligible words. All this had the makings of a fairy tale, except for the part that is was real.
"I’m sure you kids don’t want to hear about the battle. You look tired" said Chi Chi. Both Mary and Cha Cha had sleep in their eyes, but their eyes were wide open with amazement. There would be no sleeping for them this night.
"No grandpa. Tell us more!! Mary shouted. "Yeah grandpa. More! More!!" exclaimed Cha Cha.
"Alright, alright. But after this, it’s sleepy time."
And the battled continued...
The battle raged on for hours it seemed, yet the angle of the shadows never altered. It was a battle of stamina as well as might. Even though the sun barely moved across the sky, the toll the fight took on the dragon, on the mysterious attackers, even on the observers who had sneaked in close to the combat, was becoming apparent.
The dragon raised his head high, inhaled a breath so deep it’s body doubled in size, and let out the coldest gasp ever spawned from within itself. The giant white cloud of ice hurled to the defenseless snow woman, who was still chanting in gibberish. Just before impact the woman clapped her hands with a thunderous power and the ice cloud disappeared. All that was left was a small object in her right hand. A candle a few fingers tall.
The dragon, completely shocked and appalled at what just occurred lowered his head in exhaustion and defeat. The snow woman smiled a grin so evil, the holiest of men would have to turn away or be consumed with nausea by the dark powers she emitted. The snow woman placed the candle in both hands and raised them high over her head. She began shouting words intermixed with screams. Her entourage retreated from the dragon. The ropes they held, which were now the obvious reason the dragon never took flight, fell limp to the ground. Realizing that he was no longer restrained, the dragon found a new energy and leaped into the air. But just as he was airborne that battled ended with a blinding light and a loud rumble. The whitest of light, shot from the candle and encompassed the dragon in mid flight. The dragon was motionless yet did not fall. The ground under the beast cracked. It spread wider than the enormous wingspan of the captured creature. Then the light stopped and the dragon fell. It fell slowly, deep into the new cavern. There was no noise. Not from the ground, from the dragon, from the snow woman, or even from the wind. As the dragon disappeared into the earth, there was no sound of impact from the beast crashing to the bottom of the ravine. There was nothing. The snow woman then lowered her hands and the ground began to close. She stared as the seams of the rift came together and merged. Then she glanced at the three men who had witnessed the entire confrontation. Her face had no expression, as plain as the snow around her. She turned to the north and walked away accompanied by the giant and the ice mounds.
Calman, Lounar, and Yelnar stared at the woman until she disappeared over the horizon. The sun cast its rays upon the land brighter than the men had known in many moons. As the ice began to melt and the droplets traveled down the hills of snow, a small drop of sweat beaded up on Lounar’s forehead. As the men began to gather their gear and head towards town to tell their story, Lounar simply remarked "Damn it’s hot."
"It has been said that the evil snow woman visits Falling Fire on occasion and brings with her the frost she stole. And the land freezes, and the people suffer. And then as fast as she wreaks her icy havok upon us, she is gone again. And the land heals." Chi Chi concluded. "Well, now it’s time for you two to go to sleep. It’s very late." Chi Chi said softly to his sleepy grandchildren.
"Alright grandpa. But can we hear another story tomorrow night?" Mary asked innocently as she yawned.
"Of course dear. I know this one about these travelers." Cha Cha and Mary made a quick glance at each other and rolled their eyes in response to their grandfather’s answer.
"Grandpa?" Cha Cha said softly as he laid back in his bed and pulled the covers to his neck.
"Yes little one?" replied Chi Chi.
"When I grow up, I want to meet a dragon." said Cha Cha as he drifted off to the land of dreams.
Chi Chi just smiled as he rose to his feet, listening to his joints complain once again. When he reached the doorway of the children’s bedroom he turned and stared at the sleeping children, too young to even fully understand the story of the evening. Softly Chi Chi spoke. "I hope you don’t Cha Cha. I hope no one does."
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